I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 27 - Isn't This a Bit Much (3)

Chapter 27 – Isn’t This a Bit Much? (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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Malik, a gate guard working in Kirdam, the capital of Caliburn, loved rumors.

The reason was simple.

Standing guard by the city wall all day was unbearably dull, and rumors were one of the few ways to make the hours interesting.

That was why he had secretly been looking forward to this day.

More precisely, he had been waiting for the day Count Palladio arrived.

For several days now, he had heard whispers that a certain unruly brat, emboldened by the shelter of his master, had told people to summon him the moment Count Palladio showed up.

Malik had no idea why that brat was looking for a foreign count.

But he knew what usually happened when that sort of person went looking for someone.

And so, when Count Palladio arrived that day, Malik assumed he was about to see a rather entertaining spectacle.

What he saw instead was something entirely different.

It was not Count Palladio being beaten.

It was Biran.

And the one beating him was Deus.

That alone would have been enough to shake the capital. Deus was one of Caliburn’s Master Knights, a monster of talent who had reached the summit of knighthood in less than a year and was now called Swordless.

But that was not what shocked Malik most.

Swordless bowed?

Malik stood there with his mouth hanging open as he watched Deus lower his head.

“…Did Swordless just bow?”

“That Swordless?”

The other guards were equally stunned.

They had good reason to be.

Until now, Deus had never bowed to anyone in Caliburn except the king himself.

The incident where he slapped the Second Prince three times for harassing his younger sister was still talked about all over the capital, and rather than damage his fame, it had elevated it further.

Even though he had clearly committed an affront against royalty, he had received no punishment at all.

That meant Caliburn as a whole, from the king downward, valued Deus Makalian above the cast-off Second Prince.

His fame had risen even more because of it.

And yet here he was.

“Please, get in.”

A man who would not bow to Caliburn’s own royals was bowing to a foreign count.

That was enough to shock everyone who knew the relevant rumors.

Soon all eyes gathered on the same man.

Count Palladio, walking forward with a blank face as though the fact that a Master Knight was personally escorting him were nothing unusual at all.

Who in the world is this Count Palladio, if Swordless bows to him?

Everyone who saw the count’s face, Malik included, stared in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Alon, now catching the full force of those astonished looks, felt only confused.

This situation is certainly unusual, but why are they all looking at me like that?

“Please, get in.”

At Deus’s words, he turned and saw the carriage waiting for him.

It stood out immediately.

Unlike any ordinary carriage, it was entirely black.

And surrounding it, as if the entire vehicle were under military lockdown, stood ranks of knights.

At that point, Alon felt he could at least partly understand why everyone was staring.

Even from his own perspective, this was excessive.

“Very well.”

Refusing to board after all this would only have been ridiculous, so he stepped into the carriage quietly.

“Then I’ll bring our carriage along behind,” Evan said.

And with that, Alon rode off beside Deus under the escort of black-armored knights toward the latter’s residence.

* * *

A short while later, Alon saw Deus’s residence for the first time and stared.

This is a residence?

He had often heard that Caliburn’s capital was larger than the capitals of most other kingdoms.

Even so, he had never expected a single residence to be this vast.

So this is what success looks like.

After trailing behind Deus in thought for a moment, Alon climbed down from the carriage and followed him through the enormous estate toward his office.

Once inside, Deus gestured toward the seat of honor.

“Please sit.”

“…?”

Alon was puzzled.

Even if his own grasp of noble etiquette was extremely loose, he still knew the bare minimum.

Normally, shouldn’t the host take the upper seat?

Of course, the situation would be different if Alon were a vastly higher-ranking noble.

But he was only a count.

Not even a count of Caliburn, but one from Asteria.

There was no real reason Deus needed to treat him with this much formality.

From Alon’s point of view, the treatment felt nice. It really did stir the feeling of a father watching a son rise high.

At the same time, it made him uneasy.

He had quite a few favors to ask.

Clearing his throat lightly, Alon sat in the upper seat. Deus sat beside him.

Then came a heavy silence.

What exactly am I supposed to say first?

Alon knew perfectly well that even if he had a mountain of requests to make, communication did not work by opening with demands.

You had to do the formalities first.

The problem was that he had never once sat face to face with Deus like this before.

They had not even exchanged letters.

Just as the awkwardness thickened.

The door opened.

“Sorry for the delay.”

Evan entered under the knights’ guidance, glancing about carefully.

Realizing that Evan had brought the gifts, Alon immediately said:

“Evan. The presents.”

“Understood.”

He placed them on Deus’s desk.

“These are…”

“Gifts,” Alon said.

Then he let out a small breath.

He had been wondering how to start the conversation, and at least this opened the way.

“Thank you.”

Deus bowed his head to him.

Then silence fell again.

Shouldn’t the conversation continue naturally from here?

That thought crossed Alon’s mind, and after a struggle he forced out:

“…Aren’t you going to open them?”

“That would be discourteous. I’ll look at them later.”

“…”

As far as Alon knew, yes, it was in fact rude to grin and tear open a gift in front of an important person.

But Alon was not important enough to justify this much caution.

What exactly does he think I am?

He was still mildly bewildered when the office door opened again.

“Brother…?”

A girl entered.

She had the same violet eyes as Deus. A cute, lively girl. She glanced around, saw Evan, and brightened immediately.

“Oh, Brother Evan!”

“Oh, Shili!”

Evan got to his feet with a smile.

At once, Alon realized who she was.

The younger sister he had ordered Evan to save.

They look exactly alike.

In Psychedelia, Shili had only ever been described by the place and manner of her horrible death. Her face had never appeared.

Even so, the resemblance was obvious enough that Alon could not help nodding.

Then he looked at Deus and paused.

The man’s expression had grown openly displeased.

And the moment Shili grabbed Evan’s hand, his eyes sharpened even further.

“Shili. Evan is not a brother. He’s an uncle.”

Watching him say that, Alon realized Deus cared about his sister even more intensely than expected.

In short.

He was a complete siscon.

That was understandable, of course. Even in the game, Deus had been defined by his enormous sense of loss and deprivation where family was concerned.

While Alon was thinking that, Shili, who had just been chatting happily with Evan, had already trotted over to him.

“You’re Count Palladio, right?”

“I am.”

“Brother Evan told me. He said you were the one who ordered that I be saved.”

Alon glanced once at Deus, then looked back at her and nodded.

“I only did what needed doing.”

If you died, your brother would have become a continental slaughter machine.

Naturally, he did not say that part.

“Thank you very much.”

Shili bowed deeply.

Alon felt warmth spread through him.

Yes, he had acted for his own reasons too.

But there was still something genuinely pleasant about doing a good deed and receiving gratitude for it.

A small smile touched his face.

* * *

After Shili left and the atmosphere eased slightly, Alon cleared his throat and glanced at Deus.

Now that his sister was gone, Deus was once again looking at Evan with something faintly hostile.

“Deus. The reason I came to see you is that I have a favor to ask.”

“A favor… from me?”

“…? Yes. Is that strange?”

Deus looked puzzled. Alon looked equally puzzled in return.

“…No. Please speak.”

Alon hesitated.

He had two favors to ask, and both of them were likely to be troublesome from Deus’s point of view.

After a brief pause, he began with the first.

“I need to head north. Can you come with me?”

“I will.”

“…You can decide that that easily?”

Alon stared at him.

“I was due to march north on expedition anyway.”

That answer made Alon relax internally.

If it fit within Deus’s existing plans, then the first request was practically nothing.

Letting out a quiet breath of relief, he moved on.

“And if possible, I would like to borrow the `Ring of Madness` from Caliburn’s royal treasury. Can that be done?”

He watched Deus carefully as he spoke.

To ask for something from the royal treasury was, in practical terms, to ask Deus to incur a debt to the royal family. That was no light matter.

As long as Deus belonged to Caliburn, he could not escape political realities entirely.

And yet the `Ring of Madness` was indispensable to Alon’s plan.

“Of course, if this would place you in a difficult…”

Alon had meant to continue, perhaps offering compensation, perhaps pushing a little emotional leverage.

Deus cut him off.

“Understood.”

“…Hm?”

“I will retrieve the `Ring of Madness` immediately.”

Alon stared.

This was all rather good news.

But still.

“…Do you know where it is?”

“In the Caliburn royal treasury.”

“Wouldn’t retrieving it be difficult?”

“By ordinary means, about a week. But if you want it at once, I can fetch it immediately.”

“…You have a method?”

At that, Deus actually paused to think.

Then he answered.

“…The king will be irritating, but if I only have to get through about fifty men, it shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“…What?”

Evan made a strangled sound beside him.

Alon too was profoundly bewildered, though it did not show much on his face.

Deus, however, looked completely sincere.

Is this his way of saying he’d go that far for me?

That was how Alon ended up interpreting it.

After a short silence, he said:

“No. That won’t be necessary.”

“I see. Then I will retrieve the ring as quickly as possible.”

He actually looked disappointed.

Alon had the fleeting thought that this was not supposed to be retrieval, merely borrowing.

But there was no point pushing it further.

He only thought, not for the first time:

It’s good that he values me this much, but isn’t this all a little too much?

He stayed at the estate while Deus went to borrow the ring.

One day later:

“I have it.”

“…What?”

Alon stared at the `Ring of Madness`, nestled in an ornate jewel box.

Then Evan leaned close and spoke in a low voice.

“Count. Did you hear? Supposedly Deus caused an uproar at the palace yesterday demanding they hand over the treasure. And apparently the Second Prince got slapped again.”

“…??”

At that, Alon could only think:

What exactly is wrong with him?

And at last, he was forced to conclude that there was something deeply odd about Deus.