I Became the Patron of Villains (Novel) - Chapter 85 - Investiture Ceremony (1)
Chapter 85 – Investiture Ceremony (1)
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Translated by Jinmu
Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net
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For a moment, Alon could only look bewildered at the claim that he had buried no fewer than seven nobles, a story he himself had never heard even once.
He briefly considered how he ought to clear up the misunderstanding, then decided not to answer that part at all.
Normally, if people got the idea that someone had quietly erased someone else, it was best to clear that up quickly in an ordinary social relationship.
But the person he was speaking to now was one of Asteria’s hidden powers.
“…So was that the only reason you contacted me?”
When Alon moved the conversation along without confirming or denying anything, Duke Altia nodded.
[Yes. I have already finished giving my report as well.]
She had already delivered her report on Kalpa before bringing this up, so Alon gave a small nod.
[Then I will see you at the investiture ceremony.]
Watching Altia bow her head in greeting before the connection ended, Alon let out a quiet sigh and thought,
Right. There was the investiture ceremony.
Remembering that, he began turning over the pile of letters stacked on one side of his desk, and soon found the letter bearing the royal crest along with a note underneath it.
The paper left with the letter was from a royal secretary. It had a lot of minor embellishments attached, but what it amounted to was simple: because Count Palladio had been absent for so long, they were leaving only the letter behind.
“The investiture ceremony is… four months from now.”
Four months.
Thinking of that span of time, long in one sense and short in another, Alon suddenly thought of something else.
If another four months pass, there will be less than a year left until the original story begins.
The fact that the era he had experienced countless times in the game was now approaching in reality left him with a strange feeling for several reasons, but only for a moment.
…By then there will still be a truckload of things I need to deal with.
He thought of the enemies that would emerge around the point where the original story began.
The Proxies have been dealt with, but I still couldn’t take care of Wailing Ghost Fortress.
Recalling what he had confirmed before going to Colony, Alon let out a small sigh and leaned back in his chair.
There was more to handle than he had expected.
I need to deal with the ones rampaging right now, and I also have to deal with the hidden Outer God.
In truth, dealing with the ones causing trouble right now was not especially difficult.
In Psychedelia, aside from the Outer Gods and the Five Great Sins, the beings that truly plunged the Allied Kingdoms into war and chaos did not begin moving in earnest until the original story started.
Of course, by the time such beings began dragging the whole Allied Kingdoms into war and turmoil, Alon intended to already be living out a quiet life.
That was why he had supported Elivan, the protagonist of the original story.
When the original story starts, I should support him one more time.
Thinking of Elivan, who was supposed to secure his peaceful future, Alon shifted his thoughts back to the Outer God and let out another breath.
Unlike those future threats, the Outer God was something he had to handle himself.
The problem is that I do not know where this one is… and even if I find it right now, that is a problem too.
The reason Alon had been able to expect victory against Outer Gods up to now was only because none of them had completely descended yet.
That was not all.
He had also won because he knew several of their traits, in other words their weaknesses.
Which meant that if he ended up facing the hidden Outer God, the battle would likely be completely different from everything so far.
…Well, if I can at least identify which one the hidden Outer God is, I can make preparations. So that part is not the real problem. The real problem is complete descent.
If an Outer God was hiding somewhere on the continent, there was a high chance it had already fully manifested.
Once an Outer God descended to the surface and a few months passed, it would complete its descent into this world as an incarnate god.
And an Outer God that had fully manifested like that would obviously be incomparably stronger than the ones he had dealt with so far.
In short, even if he found the hidden Outer God under the current circumstances, there was a high chance he would not win.
No, not a high chance.
It would be one hundred percent.
Alon’s magic was strong enough to work on Outer Gods, but even so, it had too many shortcomings for him to face one that had completely manifested.
The number of times he could use that magic was clearly limited, and the time it took to manifest it was overwhelmingly long.
Its one advantage was that once he did manifest it, it worked on the enemy.
I need to prepare. First I need information on the hidden Outer God.
With that judgment, he looked at the letter from the royal family again.
Somehow, four months no longer felt very long.
* * *
Around the time Alon was quietly sighing while organizing what he had to do next together with the royal letter, more than three weeks had already passed since Count Palladio left, and Penia Kraisinne and Pellin Kraisinne were still traveling with Radan.
Of course, the reason Penia continued traveling with Radan was simple convenience.
Most of what she needed to investigate in Laxas concerned materials from the magic towers and finished magical products being leaked illegally.
And because Alon had asked him to look after them before leaving, Radan was treating Penia and Pellin fairly well.
Thanks to that, and with the pirates helping her, Penia was able to finish what she had to do a little faster than expected.
Today, she was inside Laxas’s royal castle.
And Radan was there too.
That did not mean they had entered together for the same reason, and they had not entered at the same time either.
No matter how little Penia cared about other people’s eyes, she had no intention of openly spreading the fact that she moved around with the Pirate King.
So Radan had entered the palace as the Pirate King who had unified the Seven Isles, acting as an envoy to negotiate Laxas’s future relationship with him.
Penia had entered the palace to challenge the fact that some of the illegally distributed magical goods were being secretly leaked out by the kingdom itself.
And now that she had finished everything she needed to do, she was meeting someone.
“Long time no see. How long has it been, Penia?”
“I saw you when you came as an envoy before, so… about four years?”
“Wow, it’s already been that long?”
“Well, yeah.”
She was meeting Serena Laksasia, Laxas’s first princess.
Serena Laksasia was smiling as she looked at Penia, and the relationship between them was fairly deep.
Because of the current Blue Tower Master, Selaim.
Back when Penia was studying magic under him as his student, Serena had also come to the Blue Tower because she had talent for magic, and the two had learned under the same master.
In Serena’s case, she eventually returned to Laxas after realizing the limits of her talent and giving up on magic, but perhaps because of the affection left over from childhood, the two were already very close.
“So how is your progress in magic these days?”
“Hmm… I think I’ll break through before long.”
“Really? That’s amazing.”
“Right?”
Serena had the standing of a princess.
Penia had the standing of a vice tower master… although, as always, she more or less ignored that and lived as she pleased.
In any case, the two of them chatted with no sense of formality between them, almost like ordinary friends.
After how much time had passed like that?
“Oh, right. I heard something kind of interesting.”
“Interesting?”
“Yeah. They say some man has you completely under his thumb.”
“…What? Me?”
Penia made an incredulous face, and Serena nodded.
“Yeah. Who was it? Hmm… Ah, Count Palladio, I think. Is it true?”
“What do you mean, under his thumb? Absolutely not.”
“Come on. The rumor is everywhere. They say that you, of all people, get all quiet and well-behaved in front of Count Palladio.”
“…”
Penia frowned slightly and almost said something, then fell silent.
Come to think of it, the words themselves were not exactly wrong.
But she hated to simply accept them as they were.
“No, really. It’s not like that.”
When Penia denied it weakly, Serena opened her mouth with the expression of someone who had just discovered something tremendously entertaining.
“…You really do like him, don’t you?”
“What? Like who?”
“Count Palladio.”
Penia looked dumbfounded at Serena, who was speaking as if she already knew everything.
“I do not!”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Seriously, absolutely not. Even if the sky collapsed, it still wouldn’t be like that.”
As Penia frowned, remembering the nonsense Pellin had spouted before, Serena’s expression turned strange.
“Really?”
“Really. I honestly do not understand why everyone keeps getting the wrong idea. I am telling you, I really do not like him.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m serious. Who would even like a stiff person like that? All he ever does is keep a straight face and shake people down for mon…”
“?”
“Shake…”
“Shake?”
At Serena’s question, Penia could not continue.
Because,
Why, why is he here…!
Radan, who by all rights should still have been in the middle of a long conversation with the king, was standing at the window in front of them, staring at her expressionlessly.
What is wrong with him…!
Penia’s shoulders trembled for an instant.
From her point of view, it was not that Radan himself was frightening.
She had seen his strength with her own eyes, but that did not mean she believed she would lose to him on land.
But even so, the reason she was trembling was simple.
She knew there was a very high chance that Radan would immediately report this to Count Palladio.
So, forcing herself to pretend she had not seen him at all, Penia continued while her eyes shook badly.
“…for mon… no, he doesn’t do that.”
“…What?”
“Count Palladio is… a very cool person. A very cool person, and… and also very cool.”
“…I think that was the third time you said ‘cool’ already.”
Penia desperately kept the conversation going.
“Y-you know? If you watch the count’s magic, it feels like it pulls you in somehow. Count Palladio’s magic is really unusual.”
“…Then don’t you like him?”
“That part… absolutely…”
“Absolutely?”
“…might be true.”
With a grinding sound, Penia bowed her head deeply as she said it, and Serena smiled in delighted understanding.
“I knew it. You really do like him.”
“Y-yeah… that’s right.”
Still keeping her head lowered, Penia glanced to one side.
Radan was there.
Nod.
Radan gave one satisfied nod from outside the window, then disappeared.
“Phew…”
Penia let out a sigh of relief.
But seeing her like that only made Serena think,
She must have such a difficult personality that she can’t bring herself to make a direct move.
That thought lasted only a moment.
Hmm. Since my friend has gone through all this trouble to reveal her true feelings, maybe I should help her a little.
…And so Serena decided to show a little kindness to her dearest friend.
Kindness Penia had never imagined.
“Hehe.”
Having reached that decision, Serena smiled faintly.
It was a sly smile from someone who never once imagined that she was mistaken.
* * *
Four months later.
After gathering information to learn the hidden Outer God’s identity, training to expand his mana hall, and continuing his magical research, Alon was riding in a carriage toward Theria, the capital, in time for the investiture ceremony when Evan spoke.
“My lord.”
“What is it?”
“Do you know?”
“…What is it this time?”
“That there is a rumor going around about you these days.”
“…A rumor about me?”
“Yes.”
It was Evan who told him the somewhat bizarre rumor.
“I heard that a rumor has spread saying Penia Kraisinne admires Count Palladio.”
“…What?”
“Penia Kraisinne. The vice tower master of the Blue Tower.”
“…”
An impossible, ridiculous rumor.