I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 20 - Somali Pirate (2)

Chapter 20 – Somali Pirate (2)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Just in case, what’s the chance the information is wrong?”

“I don’t think there is one.”

As he listened to Evan, Alon thought,

‘…Why did Radan suddenly become a pirate?’

The reason he had sent Radan to the port city of Laxas was partly because Radan’s talent was in searching, but also because he was of the sea-god race.

In the setting, there were only a handful of sea-godfolk on the whole continent.

Of course, they looked similar to humans on the outside, so one normally could not tell.

But because he had repeatedly played the game and dug through the lore, Alon knew that Radan belonged to the sea-godfolk.

That was why he had recommended the profession of treasure hunter to him.

A sea-god like Radan could breathe underwater.

And with his searching talent, Alon judged that he could make money very easily by retrieving relics sleeping beneath the sea and selling them.

On top of that, because of the nature of the treasure hunter profession, the moment one found something truly valuable, one could live in comfort from then on.

That was why the gift Alon had given Radan had also been a relic specialized for searching.

And yet he had become a pirate.

Not just any pirate, but a great pirate of the Seven Isles.

“He’s become a bigger name than the old House Palladio was….”

“…That’s true.”

Evan was right.

The pirates of the Seven Isles were called pirate crews, but in practical terms they were each territorial lords with an island apiece as their domain.

That was not all.

At sea, the combat power of the Seven Isles’ pirates was enough that they did not fall behind even against the empire that dominated all naval warfare.

And the strength of the captains who ruled the isles belonged only to transcendent beings who had surpassed humanity, like Swordmasters or barbarian chiefs.

On top of that, by the setting, the current generation of captains ruling the isles was much stronger than the previous generation.

When his thoughts reached that point, Alon suddenly felt a question arise.

‘…How in the world did Radan kill one of those superhumans?’

That question arose because Radan’s talent did not lie in direct combat.

But before long, Alon came up with his own answer.

‘If Radan pulled up only the best relics from the old age, then it does become possible.’

There were a great many relics from the old age sunk in the waters off Laxas.

And among them were quite a few absurdly overpowered relics.

Alon himself had once spent three whole days on the treasure hunter minigame just to obtain relics from the sea off Laxas.

…Of course, after that, he grew sick of the minigame and never looked at it again.

Still, the relics he got after that ordeal had definitely been worth the grind.

In other words, if Radan had seized a captain’s position through the power of items, then it was somewhat understandable.

“…”

Alon pressed at the corner of his eye with his left hand for a moment, but soon regained his composure.

In truth, when he sent all of the future Great Sins out into the world, he had already expected that cases like this were not entirely impossible.

He knew perfectly well that the world was not so easy that everything would move exactly as he planned.

Even so, the taste left in his mouth was strangely bitter, and he let out a low sigh.

…It was summer.

* * *

Beyond the sea from Laxas, the great maritime city that was effectively the heart of the Duchy of Corkia, there existed seven isles.

Those seven islands, called the Seven Isles by the people, had originally all been ruled by the first pirate and, at this point in history, the Pirate King, Caldean T. Braven.

But after Caldean died an absurd death from heart disease, the Seven Isles split into seven parts matching the number of islands and had been ruled that way ever since.

That was the place now called the pirates’ paradise, the Seven Isles.

And the one who had killed Alcride Markni, the captain who ruled the First Isle, the largest of the Seven Isles, a pirate nicknamed the Red Slayer who had received the blessing of the Heavenly King through sacrifice,

and had become the captain of the First Isle,

was Radan.

“…”

Radan looked down at the island and let out a low breath.

The First Isle he was looking down on was surprisingly well built for a pirate settlement.

There were countless houses on the ground, cliffs piled in a ring around the great island’s center, and houses built atop those cliffs, making the whole place look like a giant fortress.

But what filled Radan’s mind was not the scenery of the island.

It was the Great Moon.

‘What exactly… is the Great Moon?’

In truth, Radan had never once thought deeply about the Great Moon.

It was not because he had some deep-rooted loyalty to the Great Moon.

Rather, he had simply had no particular interest.

That did not mean he lacked gratitude.

He understood his own circumstances well.

He could easily guess that if not for the Great Moon, he would have been dragged away by the slave traders who had captured him, subjected to experiments, and died.

And he likewise knew that if the Great Moon had not allowed him to meet Yutia, he would never have awakened his ability and gained the power he had now.

But even so, all Radan had ever felt toward the Great Moon was gratitude.

If anything, it had felt more as though he followed Yutia’s orders than the Great Moon’s.

Even the phrase, Everything is for the Great Moon, had merely been him following Yutia’s instruction.

That was why, when a proper order first came from the Great Moon, he felt resistance.

Just like Seollang before him, he too had felt there was no meaning in going to Laxas.

Radan had too many targets he needed revenge on.

He had to take revenge on the black things that had slaughtered his people on a nameless island where they had once lived peacefully.

And he also had to take revenge on the damned hunter who killed his parents and sold him into slavery after they barely escaped those black things and reached the continent, only to be attacked once they had exhausted all their strength.

To someone like him, the profession of treasure hunter held no meaning at all.

And he had thought the gift the Great Moon gave him had nothing to do with the revenge he had originally sworn.

At least, until he learned that the captains of the Seven Isles were the ones who had killed his parents.

“…”

The reason Radan realized that truth was very simple.

All of the current captains of the Seven Isles used the power of the sea-godfolk.

To the world, it was known as a blessing of the Heavenly King obtained through sacrifice.

But the reality was different.

That power could only be used by offering up part of one’s own body for family and receiving power from the sea god they worshiped, Cliared, through a sacred ritual.

The moment he realized that fact, Radan ran like mad to the center of Laxas Square.

There, hanging up, were the wanted posters of the Seven Isles.

They were so old, torn, and no longer even updated because nobody had the will to hunt them anymore.

The instant he saw those posters, Radan became certain.

The current captains of the Seven Isles were the very ones who had killed his parents when he was a child.

And that meant those bastards had used his parents’ bodies to gain power.

The moment he realized that, fury, joy, and confusion all surged up in him at once.

Even though Radan had never once told his story while working under Blue Moon after being rescued,

it was as if the Great Moon had arranged everything from the beginning.

As though, in keeping a promise, he had placed an opportunity for revenge in Radan’s hands.

But even when that chance for revenge arrived, he could not act on it immediately.

Objectively speaking, he could not defeat the captains who used Cliared’s power in his current state.

He was certainly strong.

But he was not strong enough to defeat those who had reached the realm of superhumans.

And so, once he began thinking about it, Radan was not long in finding the answer within the gift the Great Moon had given him.

The gift called the Amrita Goggles made the many relics buried under the sea glow so he could find them easily.

And after learning that some of the relics he excavated were more than enough to fill the gap in raw strength between himself and the captains of the Seven Isles,

Radan finally realized that all of this had been intentional.

At the same time, he also understood the Great Moon’s true will.

‘Take revenge, and seize the Seven Isles.’

The moment he realized that, the Great Moon was no longer merely someone toward whom Radan felt a little gratitude.

The Great Moon had not only placed before his eyes what had been promised to him,

but had also given him all the power necessary to take revenge on them.

From beginning to end.

All of it.

“Everything is for the Great Moon.”

Radan muttered before he realized it.

That sentence had once been nothing more than an empty phrase to him, even if it meant something to others.

But,

“Everything is for the Great Moon.”

now it was different.

That phrase was no longer a sentence with no meaning to Radan.

Now,

that sentence when it came from Radan’s lips,

“…For the Great Moon.”

finally meant trust.

* * *

About three months after hearing the news that the fifth child he had sponsored had become a Somali pirate,

when the oppressively hot summer was finally ending and the forest leaves had begun to turn,

Alon climbed into a carriage.

He was going to attend the grand social assembly held once every two years by House Lotegr.

‘I would skip it if I could.’

Of course, unlike his body that was already moving in the carriage, Alon’s heart was full of exactly that feeling.

The image of House Palladio as a hidden power had mostly faded because it had done nothing for too long.

The problem was that what had filled that empty place was ridicule.

Even so, there was a reason he still entrusted himself to the carriage.

All nobles of Asteria were bound by a rule regarding the grand social assembly held every two years.

Unless they had a truly exceptional reason, they were required to attend at least once every two cycles, a bizarre rule whose purpose nobody understood.

In any case, thanks to that, Alon was riding toward the grand social assembly, and before long he joined the carriages of two other noble houses.

That had been planned from the start.

Every time the season of the grand social assembly came around, there were always insane mercenaries or bandits trying to lay hands on nobles, so they traveled in larger groups from the beginning.

As nobles, they had enough guards that even if a fight broke out, it rarely became a true problem.

But the act of getting into a fight at all would still wear down valuable manpower, so they deliberately increased their size from the start.

So that nobody would dare touch them in the first place.

Through that alignment of interests, Alon naturally ended up traveling together with two eastern houses.

Nothing happened during the day.

…The problem came that night.

“Count Palladio, even so, isn’t it a bit much to have only one bodyguard? If you’re short on money and couldn’t hire more, I could help a little.”

“My, my. You must be in a bit of financial danger after inheriting your seat so suddenly and by such luck.”

“…”

Looking at the two nobles who had come all the way here just to openly mock him, Alon wore a dumbfounded expression.