Became the Patron of Villains

Right after confirming the theory that if Ryang-a’s body was good, your head got comfortable.

Alon decided to leave the White Ghost Gang hideout.

“We reunited after hundreds of years, and you’re leaving after just one day... I’m a little sad......”

“......If you want, should I stay a little longer before I go?”

Alon asked Ryang-a, who had a gloomy face.

But she shook her head and then—

“No, if I start wanting to see you again, this time I’ll come find you myself.”

she said with a smile.

“Then see you next time, Boss!”

“Yeah, see you next time.”

“See you again, Ryang-a!”

Just as they were about to finish their goodbyes.

“Ah. Boss, but can I ask you one thing?”

As if she remembered only then, Ryang-a grabbed Alon, who was about to leave.

“What is it?”

“Didn’t Blue-Eared One go to find you? It’s not like I told him to, but—he suddenly disappeared.”

“......Ah.”

Without realizing it, Alon let out a low exclamation.

It had passed so naturally that he hadn’t even thought about it, but it was true: he hadn’t talked about Blue-Eared One at all.

So he was about to tell her, but only for a moment—

‘......Can I say this?’

Alon fell into thought.

Of course, he had to tell her that Blue-Eared One had come, but he hesitated over how to answer what he was doing now.

Would it be better to tell the truth, that he liked Divine Land and was staying there?

‘......That doesn’t seem like a good idea.’

It felt like it would end up completing a world where everyone got hurt, so after a brief moment of deliberation, Alon answered.

“He came to find me.”

“Really? Then where is he?”

“He’s helping out with work in my Divine Land for now.”

“Divine Land?”

“Yeah.”

When Alon nodded and roughly explained Divine Land—

“Oh.......”

As if she’d heard something fascinating, Ryang-a exclaimed in admiration and then—

“Anyway, if he can’t come because he’s helping with work for now, I’ll tell him when I go back.”

“Mmm— No, you can just leave it like that.”

“......Really?”

“Yeah, well, next time I go find you, I’ll tell him then.”

As if it wasn’t a big deal, she said that.

“Then that’s—”

Leaving that conversation behind, they left the forest.

And after Alon’s party left the White Ghost Gang hideout like that.

“Boss—”

“Yeah, why?”

Looking at Ryang-a, who had somehow changed from that fresh face into a bored expression like everything was a hassle.

Red Ghost, the man with red skin—second only to Blue-Eared One, and third in the White Ghost Gang’s hierarchy—opened his mouth.

“You must be disappointed, Boss.”

“Yeah, why?”

“You waited so long, but you met for only one day and he left, didn’t you?”

At those words, Ryang-a let out a snort of laughter and said,

“It’s fine.”

“It’s fine?”

“Yeah. Just meeting him and confirming it was enough. And—”

The boss must be busy with things to do too, and if I say we met for the first time in a long while and hold him back, it’s no different from bothering Boss, you know.

—As Ryang-a said that refreshingly, Red Ghost was newly impressed.

‘Even if she has a bit of a childish side normally, she really is mentally mature.’

After Red Ghost slightly revised his evaluation of the boss from ‘a very strong, nice guy’ to ‘she doesn’t look like it, but she’s still mentally mature’—

as if another thing came to mind, he said,

“Is it really okay to leave Blue-Eared One like that? Blue-Eared One was the one who managed the kids well, wasn’t he?”

“Mmm—”

Ryang-a made a sound as she brought a hand to her chin.

Just like Red Ghost said, the one who managed the {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} subordinates well was Blue-Eared One.

“That’s true.”

“Then shouldn’t we bring him back even now?”

“Don’t worry too much. I was going to bring him back anyway.”

“Yes? Is that so?”

“Yeah.”

“......Then wouldn’t it be enough to just ask that person to pass along the message?”

“There’s no need to make Boss do that kind of errand work. It’s better if I go myself.”

The thought ‘......Do you really have to?’ naturally arose in Red Ghost’s mind, and he only felt something was off for a moment.

“So anyway, Red Ghost. If Boss arrives at the territory, it’ll be about a month later, right?”

“......Well, I guess so?”

“Then I can go around then and bring Blue-Eared One back.”

“Wouldn’t it be faster to go now?”

“If he’s helping Boss with work, it’d be kind of wrong to just pull him out without permission, wouldn’t it?”

Knowing Ryang-a’s style—if it was something she wanted to do, she would somehow make it work even in a situation where it absolutely couldn’t—Red Ghost, who’d been expressing doubt, was told—

“Got it? I’m going in about a month.”

“Yes? ......Yes.”

“And on top of that, I’ll say hello to Boss too.”

“.......”

It wasn’t hard to grasp her intention.

‘She acted so cool when she sent him off—’

She’s totally thinking about seeing him again.......

Only then did Red Ghost notice the smile at the corner of Ryang-a’s mouth.

And in his head, his evaluation of Ryang-a changed in an instant.

To someone who was just strong and acted cool.......

About a day after leaving the White Ghost Gang hideout.

Because Alon didn’t want to burden Ryang-a, he deliberately went back by detouring through the ruins district, not the places where mutants came out.

Spending about one more day like that and moving, Alon—

“It’s a success......!”

“Right?!”

shared the joy of success with Penia.

Because they had succeeded in lightening— the first step of extracting information from tier magic.

“Now if we just combine the information, we’re done! Of course, from here on out it’s the beginning, but still.”

“I didn’t think the speed would pick up this much.”

That was true.

Even when they first tried extracting information from Magic Bolt.

They really hadn’t had any sense of what to touch first.

So just as they were happy for a moment—

“......But. This, it’s really properly implemented, right?”

At Penia’s continued words, Alon made a strange sound and looked ahead.

There was the Magic Bolt that Alon had made over the past few weeks with Penia after researching.

“......At least the array itself is Magic Bolt, so doesn’t that mean it is?”

“But the form is a little different.”

Penia’s doubt was right.

Basically, the appearance of the first-tier spell Magic Bolt that mages talked about was, in the end, just condensed mana, but it took the shape of a circle.

However, the Magic Bolt that Alon and Penia had made—

“A line—”

was a straight-line shape.

Looking at the Magic Bolt, faintly glowing in the shape of a thin rectangular form like a flat arrow, Alon continued.

“Last time, Heinkel said that depending on what you extract, the form can change too, so I think this is still within the expected range.”

“And that’s true, but still.”

“For now, let’s keep going like this. I think this is probably right.”

Alon recalled what Heinkel had said.

‘Like I said, if it’s the process of extracting information, not the process of tampering with magic, then unless it’s extracted perfectly, there’s no way the magic will activate. Tier magic responds easily to tampering, but as for extracting it—because it has to deliver “information,” it’s made so that it can’t happen at all.’

“And Heinkel said the magic only activates when you extract all the information perfectly.”

As Alon calmly organized what was in his head, Penia nodded.

“That’s true.”

And just as they were watching the arrow-shaped magic slowly fade away.

“Marquis, we’ve arrived.”

The carriage reached the camp.

And Alon immediately heard an unusual rumor there.

“Is that true? Three powerhouses are dead?”

......That the ones who had gone to handle the problem in the Ashtalon Kingdom were dead.

Palmarian IV, the king of Caliban, was in a situation that had been giving him headaches lately.

Of course, there were really many reasons.

The northern barbarians, who had been quiet until now, starting their activity again.

Knights suddenly leaving Caliban in quite large numbers.

Even his three sons, already starting to prepare under the table to seize the throne.

There were other things mixed in too, but more than anything, what amplified Palmarian IV’s stress were his sons.

Right, even just a few months ago.

“Marquis Palatio created Divine Land!”

Even when Palmarian IV first heard something like that, he didn’t pay much attention.

Even when he heard the news that Marquis Palatio had hired quite a lot of soldiers and knights, it was the same.

The scale was definitely large, but he didn’t think it was a threat.

In the first place, the reason he’d heard this report was because he’d heard a rumor that Caliban’s First Sword was personally training soldiers and knights.

Right, up until then, it was like that.

Three months ago.

“I report. They say knights and mercenaries are flocking to Divine Land.”

“......Knights and soldiers?”

“Yes. And they say the momentum is tremendous.”

“How much......?”

“At this rate....... There’s enough numbers that even war is possible—”

Until he heard that report from the secretary.

At that, Palmarian IV did have a question of ‘Could it be Marquis Palatio’s actions......?’ but he quickly withdrew the suspicion anyway.

No matter how much of a marquis he was, Palmarian IV knew there was no way he would do something that foolish.

Of course, he acknowledged that Marquis Palatio had hidden strength.

But he didn’t think it was enough to beat the Allied Kingdoms.

Because war wasn’t about an individual’s strength—it was done with numbers.

So Palmarian IV readily withdrew the suspicion.

Thinking, ‘No way—just because private troops gathered? That’s not enough—’

And it was even more so because he’d heard in the middle that knights and mercenaries were leaving.

......And then two months ago.

“......They say the saintess of Kalannon took the believers and knights and went to Divine Land.”

“......What?”

“They say the soldiers and mercenaries aren’t leaving anymore either.”

At that point, a small suspicion began to form in Palmarian IV’s heart in earnest.

They even built a temple near Caliban—why would they abandon an existing temple and move to Divine Land?

No matter how he searched, there was no reason for that.

......But Palmarian IV still was skeptical of the idea that Marquis Palatio would wage war.

The thought ‘surely not’ was strong.

Marquis Palatio? Surely not?

But.

“......So you’re saying, all those spreading rumors are being manipulated by Marquis Palatio?”

“Yes, according to the investigation report from the ducal unit, that is correct.”

“......The marquis is capturing public sentiment he has no reason to care about?”

“Yes. And we have one more report.”

“What is it......?”

The report from the ducal unit continued.

And lastly.

“They say one of the Seven Great Powerhouses, the Sword God, entered Divine Land.”

When he heard that—

“......!!”

Palmarian IV’s pupils couldn’t help but tremble violently.