I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 62 - It Was There, Though (3)

Chapter 62 – It Was There, Though (3)

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Translated by Jinmu

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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On the fifth day after setting out for the royal palace.

With about two days left before reaching Theria, the capital of Asteria, Alon sat in the carriage looking over a list.

If I can clean out a few more of them, that would probably be for the best.

The list was one he had compiled over the past few days, a list of villains from Psychedelia. Not minor villains, but the kind that became troublesome the moment each of them started rampaging.

A few of them did disappear thanks to Duke Altia and Count Xenonia conquering the whole underworld this time.

Unfortunately, what truly had to be watched in Psychedelia was not the organizations that formed the underworld itself, but the organizations that lay rooted inside it while operating in secret.

Those covert groups were powerful. They did not appear at all at first, then once the player began to move, they would appear like a lie and start wreaking havoc. Quite a few of them were also the sort that could pose a serious threat to Alon’s safety.

But it made no sense to wipe out every villain on that list merely because they might threaten him, so Alon decided to eliminate only the two most dangerous organizations among them.

The Proxies and Wailing Ghost Fortress.

To be honest, when Alon had played the game, the Proxies and Wailing Ghost Fortress had not been especially bothersome from the player’s point of view.

The Proxies were strong because they were made up of a small elite, but they were the sort you never even saw unless you entered a particular route.

Wailing Ghost Fortress was similar. Though like the Proxies, it was not an organization you would ever meet unless you progressed a side quest in the Kingdom of Ashtalon.

But the reason Alon considered those two organizations the ones that most needed to be eliminated was simple.

He was no longer the player, but a noble of Asteria.

And later on, those organizations attempted national subversion.

Of course, Alon had never actually seen either of those goals succeed.

By the time they were diligently preparing their plans, one of the Five Great Sins would appear and destroy the kingdom itself, making any need to overthrow the state irrelevant.

Still, in the current worldline where the Five Great Sins had already been removed, there was no telling what might happen.

Above all else, the Proxies and Wailing Ghost Fortress assassinated many nobles in pursuit of their goals, so Alon considered both of them organizations that absolutely had to be erased.

There are the Bone Eaters too, if I include the imperial side.

Alon shifted his gaze east, where the Empire lay, then shrugged.

The Allied Kingdoms and the Empire were far apart, and in any case most of what happened in the Empire would be handled by the protagonist over there.

Since I remember the timelines being the same, once the original story starts, the protagonist on that side should move as well.

As he searched back through a fading memory of the past, a thought came to him without his intending it.

What was the protagonist’s name over there? Palian?

The protagonist on the imperial side.

More precisely, when the original story of Psychedelia began, the story unfolding on the imperial side was that of another game made by the same studio.

Calipsophobia.

In simple terms, Psychedelia was the game that dealt with events in the Allied Kingdoms.

And Calipsophobia was the game that dealt with events in the giant Empire beside the Allied Kingdoms.

“Hmm.”

At that point, Alon stopped thinking further.

He had dropped Calipsophobia after only the early part, so he had no real information, and in truth there was no need for Alon to worry about the Empire.

From the beginning, the Empire and the Allied Kingdoms were thoroughly divided, and the only things they shared were a few items.

And the incidents that occurred in the Empire were all meant to be resolved by Palian, the protagonist of Calipsophobia, and his party.

So.

How should I deal with the Proxies and Wailing Ghost Fortress?

Alon stayed seated in the carriage for a long while, continuing his train of thought.

And then the next day.

“My lord, I can see Theria in the distance now. We are almost there.”

“Did we arrive a day early?”

“Looks like it. It is good that we came at an easy pace.”

At Evan’s words, Alon looked once toward the view of Theria outside the window.

He had seen it before, but Theria’s scenery was still imposing.

High, solid walls that suited the image of the capital of a kingdom.

Staring blankly at them, Alon clicked his tongue softly.

If he had come simply to enjoy a tour of the capital, he would have felt generous and expansive, but unfortunately that was not why he was here.

I hope nothing major happens.

As he gradually entered the interior of Theria and watched the street scenery roll past, he found himself hoping that without meaning to.

Of course, he was not truly expecting that outcome anymore.

From the moment the monarch personally singled him out and called him here, it effectively meant she had some special business with him, and there was a high chance that business concerned Kalpa.

Will it go the way I want?

In fact, Alon had come up with what he considered a fairly decent scenario on his way to the royal palace.

If the monarch says something about moderately expanding her own power here, I can pretend to be partially won over, scale Kalpa’s power back a little, and continue the faction in the form of a tug-of-war with the crown.

Of course, it was only a fantasy he had come up with on his own, taking neither advice nor circumstances into account.

Even so, among the options he could think of at the moment, it was not a bad scenario.

From the start, the faction was not in a position where it could stand fully opposed to the monarch under any circumstances. If things unfolded like that, it would greatly help Alon continue to move half-heartedly within the faction.

“Hoo.”

Watching the royal palace draw nearer, he let out a quiet sigh.

* * *

Quite late that night.

Even though the moon hung high in the middle of the sky, Radan had still not gone to bed and was waiting in the office.

The reason was simple.

Today was the day of Blue Moon’s regular meeting.

Even though there were still twenty minutes left before the meeting began, almost all of Blue Moon’s members, except Deus, had already gathered.

It was not because of any special matter.

All of Blue Moon’s members always gathered thirty minutes before a meeting began.

If anything, the stranger thing was that with only twenty minutes left, Deus still had not arrived.

But stranger still than that was this.

“I want to get married!”

“I told you before, you cannot!”

“I am going to!”

“I said you cannot!”

Unlike the meetings, which were usually full of silence, Yutia and Seollang had already been talking noisily for more than ten minutes before the meeting had even started.

“Why not? You do not have the authority to stop me!”

“Even so, you cannot!”

“That is unfair!”

Seollang insisted that she would get married somehow, while Yutia desperately tried to stop her.

Radan found himself thinking that if she wanted it that badly, it might be better to get married in secret and report it afterward.

But.

That would definitely be difficult.

Given Yutia’s personality and her particular kind of fanaticism, no one could guess how she would react after that, so Radan kept his mouth shut.

After some time passed.

“Rine! Yutia is being way too unfair!”

About five minutes before the meeting, Seollang asked for help with a terribly aggrieved expression, so Radan turned his gaze toward Rine.

“……”

But she was pondering something as if she had not heard Seollang at all.

Seeing that, Radan shrugged.

In truth, he had not expected her to react to Seollang’s words in the first place.

But.

“Please do not take it too hard, Seollang. Yutia has served the Great Moon a little longer than the rest of us.”

At the words that came out next, Radan wore an expression of surprise.

He knew perfectly well that even at the previous meeting, she had not intervened, as if the two of them arguing was not worth interrupting.

“Eh!”

“See? Just listen quietly.”

To be honest, Radan did not truly understand what connection there was between having served the Great Moon longer and the current discussion.

Still, seeing Rine show such an unfamiliar attitude, he relaxed a little.

“Ah, come to think of it, Yutia, I have one suggestion to make.”

“Hm? What is it?”

To Yutia, who was smiling pleasantly because someone had taken her side, Rine made a suggestion.

“I was thinking that from now on, I might send report letters myself. What do you think?”

“Is that necessary? I am already organizing the brief contents of all your reports and sending them anyway.”

“I know, but I do have something to report about the Watcher’s Eye.”

“If it is related to that, then tell me and I can.”

Yutia was still smiling.

But.

“Would it not be better for me to tell him directly rather than passing through you, Yutia?”

At Rine’s next words, the smile Yutia had been wearing slowly began to fade.

“I have been handling the reports just fine until now.”

“This concerns the Watcher’s Eye. I would like to speak to him personally about that part. While I am at it, I can also deliver my own report.”

“!”

“!”

And with that, Rine smiled slightly.

At the sight, not only Radan but Seollang as well looked startled.

That was because though they had already spent more than eight years together and were now entering their ninth, they had never once seen Rine smile.

They only stared blankly for a moment.

Then.

“Ehit.”

“?”

“?”

“?”

“Ah, pardon me. I just thought of something amusing for a moment.”

Rine went from wearing a faint smile to grinning wide enough to bare her fangs, and everyone could only gape at her.

Does the Great Moon have some sort of hypnosis artifact?

Radan could not help but think that as he looked at how completely Rine had changed.

And it made sense.

Starting with Deus, then Seollang, and now even Rine, all of them had changed too much after meeting the Great Moon.

And because they now revered the Great Moon to a degree comparable even to Yutia, Radan seriously wondered whether the Great Moon possessed some sort of hypnosis artifact.

While everyone was still unable to recover from the sight of Rine’s broad grin.

“My apologies. I am a little late.”

Deus entered in time for Blue Moon’s regular meeting.

“…?”

He looked briefly bewildered at the sight of the other members all wearing dazed expressions.

But then, as if recalling what he had come to say, he opened his mouth.

“I am sorry, but I have something urgent to say before the meeting begins.”

At that, the others withdrew the stares they had been casting around until moments earlier and all turned to look at Deus.

“It seems an organization called the Proxies is targeting the Great Moon.”

And at those words.

“Hah?”

“What?”

“What did you say?”

“What did you say?”

Every one of them lit up eyes sharp with character.