Became the Patron of Villains

Alon looked at Ryang-a.

For a brief moment, her eyes—having lost where to go—wavered in a dizzying way.

Tap—

Without a word, she got down from Alon’s lap, walked a few steps forward just like that, then—

Tsk—!

vanished right before his eyes.

It happened in an instant.

Alon, who had been staring blankly at the spot where Ryang-a had been standing, stayed silent with a blank face for a while before opening his mouth.

“Penia.”

“Yes, my lord marquis.”

“Are the people close to me...... originally all a little weird?”

“Mm...... in what sense?”

“......What do you mean by that?”

“There are a lot of kinds.”

While Penia was answering—

“No, I stepped out for a bit because of the auction house stuff, and when I came back, did something happen?”

Evan, who’d left his seat to take care of something, returned.

“It’s nothing major. It seems like word spread a bit that my lord marquis lost his memories.”

“My lord marquis’s situation?”

“Well, it’s not to the point you need to worry too much. It doesn’t seem like it’s widely known.”

Penia told him, one by one, what had happened today.

After hearing everything, Evan made a hm— sound, then—

“Well, that’s like... a little below expectations?”

He gave that evaluation.

“......This is below expectations?”

“Yes.”

“......Was Evan the one who spread the word that I lost my memories?”

“Hey— of course not. Why would I go around telling people my lord marquis lost his memories?”

Evan shrugged.

“What I meant by ‘below expectations’ was about their reactions.”

“Reactions?”

“Yes. Honestly, when I thought they’d find out my lord marquis lost his memories...... I figured something a little bigger would happen.”

“......Like what?”

“Uh, for example...... kidnapping or something?”

“......?”

Evan calmly put a terrifying word in his mouth.

Alon, wondering if it was a joke, let doubt show on his face, but—

“......You’re not joking?” 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

“Why would I joke?”

Evan confirmed it for him, and then—

“......Mm, that might be true.”

When Penia, who’d been quietly listening, agreed, his feelings got complicated.

‘What kind of thirteen years did I even live......?’

A deep sigh spilled out on its own from his confused head.

####

Before he knew it, it was evening.

Those who had each tried to achieve their own purposes using Alon’s memory loss as a pretext finally all bowed their heads to Alon, one after another, and—

Alon ended the situation by letting it slide like it was nothing.

He hadn’t suffered anything that would truly harm him, after all.

More than anything, the light pranks they’d pulled on Alon were easy enough to ignore lightly—

and the gifts they’d brought were, without exception, incredible.

‘......Of course, that one is...... kind of a lot, but.’

From the balcony, Alon looked at the statue that had clearly grown even more massive than it had been this morning, then shifted his gaze toward the noisy dining hall.

The first thing he saw was—

Blackie, diligently training the new recruit(?) pet that had come in today, and Basiliora diligently eating food off a plate.

Next was the sight of Nangwon and Deus talking about something with an extremely friendly air.

And the sight of Historia silently staring at Blackie.

Lastly, the sight of Ryang-a and Magrina murmuring something in secret caught his eye.

It was a scene that didn’t stray from peaceful daily life.

For Alon, who had lost thirteen years’ worth of memories—

no matter how many stories he heard about them, he didn’t remember anything, so it would be strange for him to have any special feelings, but—

“......”

Looking at that scene, he felt as if one corner of his heart was settling down.

As if he really liked this scenery.

He found his own contradictory emotions fascinating for only a moment.

Then Alon, turning his eyes again to look up at the night sky, scratched his head for no reason and sighed.

He kept thinking, but—

he still couldn’t come up with a way to supplement his magic.

‘......Is there even a way?’

Basically, the magic Alon needed to supplement had a clear limit.

To use magic, he had to form ‘phrases’ and ‘hand seals’, and by forming those phrases and hand seals, he could obtain firepower on a completely different level from existing mages.

In other words, the ‘firepower’ that was the root of Alon’s magic—

was like an unchangeable law created because he held onto the restrictions called phrases and hand seals.

If he gave up that law, it would become ordinary magic.

In short, what Alon was agonizing over right now was close to impossible.

“Teacher?”

Around the time Alon sighed at those thoughts, a voice reached him.

He naturally turned his head toward where the sound came from.

“Yutia, si—”

He hurriedly swallowed the rest.

Even though he’d heard about their relationship to some extent from Penia already, what he’d said the very first time still lingered in his memory, so he’d almost naturally added the address “older sister.”

Because he didn’t finish the word, he didn’t get to see the thick regret that remained at the corner of Yutia’s eyes, but—

“You can call me comfortably.”

Yutia quickly changed her expression as she spoke.

“No, still—”

“No. I don’t want to see you uncomfortable, Teacher. So please call me comfortably. Any form of address is fine with me.”

Yutia beamed.

......She was definitely smiling, but why did it feel like she wasn’t laughing? The thought flickered only briefly.

Alon slightly averted his gaze and opened his mouth.

“Th-then why did you come out— no, why did you come out?”

“It looked like you were worrying alone, Teacher. If you don’t mind, may I ask what you’re worrying about?”

“......I’m worrying about this state.”

“This state?”

“Yeah. ‘I’ sealed my own memories in order to supplement my magic. But—”

Alon, who had been about to say, Because I don’t have creativity, hesitated for a moment.

If he talked about this, he’d have to reveal a little more about himself.

If what Penia said was true, Alon and Yutia had known each other for a long span of thirteen years.

But if he asked himself whether he would’ve told her about the ‘previous world’—

the odds were overwhelmingly that he hadn’t.

“Mm— so in the end, you’re worrying about magic?”

At Yutia’s continuing words, Alon cut off the flow of his thoughts and answered.

“That’s right.”

“Mm— wouldn’t it be possible to find the answer in my lord marquis’s memories, unexpectedly?”

“In my memories?”

“Yes.”

“For example—”

Her distinct, brightly shining red eyes fell into thought for a moment.

Then a gentle smile settled at the corner of her lips.

“—Like storing magic.”

“Storing, huh.......”

Alon murmured, echoing what Yutia said.

However, it wasn’t like he’d never thought about it.

Alon had a ‘hogaptoo’ that could store a specific spell, and he also knew that in the many fantasy worlds’ magic he’d read before he came to this world, there was a spell called ‘Memorize.’

But naturally, neither of those two could become the answer to the magic Alon was currently agonizing over.

In the case of the hogaptoo, it could only unfold a single spell, only once.

And the ‘Memorize’ that appeared so constantly in the fantasy novels he’d read before that even the word “staple” didn’t do it justice—a spell that lets you store several spells in advance and release them later—was impossible to implement in this world in the first place.

‘Even if it’s theoretically possible, realistically the storage I can do is one.’

Meaning, it’s not much different from the hogaptoo.

That’s why—

“It’s not that I didn’t think about that part, but it’s impossible.”

“Is it?”

“Yeah. Theoretically, storing magic is possible, but only up to one time. And it can only be used in the state from before using Reverse Heavens.”

“Why is that?”

“......It’s a bit of a complicated concept, but in the first place, to ‘store’ magic, you have to store it in the mana hole.”

“If you increase your mana using Reverse Heavens, the magic you pre-built might go out of control...... is that what you mean?”

“If I researched it, I could remove that risk, but for now, yes.”

At that, Yutia fell silent for a moment, then—

“But even one doesn’t really matter, does it?”

She suddenly asked.

“......Doesn’t matter?”

“Yes. The problem is the hand seals and the phrases, right?”

“That’s right.”

“But there’s a su-bing-in for the hand seals, isn’t there?”

“......Even if so, there are still the phrases.”

“Mm—”

Yutia looked like she was choosing her words, then—

“......Can’t you make the phrases with magic too?”

“......With magic?”

“The reason you recite phrases is to use the law, right? Then do you really need to do it with words?”

She voiced her doubt, and—

“That’s obviously—”

Alon, who had been about to refute that—

“......?”

had a thought surface in his mind.

One he hadn’t been able to have until now.

But also, one hypothesis he still hadn’t tried yet.

And the moment he thought of it—

“......Um, honestly I don’t really know either, so I just said whatever.”

Yutia added with a gentle smile.

“No, it was definitely a thought worth trying.”

“Was it?”

“Thank you.”

“I’m glad it helped. I wanted to be helpful to you, Teacher.”

Still not erasing her smile, Yutia said,

“It seems like you need a little more thinking, so I’ll go in first.”

Leaving that greeting behind, she walked toward the dining hall.

After that, Alon, chewing over the inspiration that had floated up blankly from the question Yutia had thrown at him—

“Hmm?”

realized something.

Something that had passed by far too naturally in the moment.

And yet, a realization that was a little strange.

‘......Did I ever say I was worrying about supplementing ‘phrases’ and ‘hand seals’......?’

Alon blankly watched Yutia for a while as she went into the dining hall and mingled with the others.

###

To start with the conclusion:

In the span of not even a few hours, Seollang had come to Teria, the capital of Asteria.

There were only two reasons.

One was that Asteria was much faster than the Colony.

The other was that Seollang knew information that Asteria’s city hall operated until later hours than the Colony.

Of [N O V E L I G H T] course, the documents Seollang currently had were from the Colony, but even so, it was fine.

Basically, for countries that belonged to the Allied Kingdoms, unless it was a case where the king directly enforced such a law, they all followed Rosario’s laws.

That’s why Seollang, who arrived in Teria at a speed like light—

ran to city hall, rejoicing over the fact that Yutia hadn’t caught Seollang.

Even while checking the marriage registration form over and over, anxiety that maybe Yutia might be waiting there seeped up in Seollang’s chest.

Entering city hall, Seollang looked around in all directions.

Yutia really wasn’t there.

Only after confirming that did Seollang let out a sigh of relief—

then immediately held out the marriage registration form to the city hall clerk with an expression brimming with anticipation.

And then.

“......Um. I’m sorry, but I don’t think we’ll be able to process this document.”

“Eh......?”

The answer that came back was rejection.

“W-why?”

“Uh— did you perhaps not know......? A week ago, Rosario announced that from now on, marriage registration forms have been changed so that all the people who filled it out must come in person in order to receive approval.......”

The receptionist explained, watching Seollang’s reaction.

At that moment, a few keywords flashed through Seollang’s mind as Seollang’s mouth fell open blankly.

Rosario.

Cardinal Yutia.

Marriage registration form.

Yutia not blocking Seollang.

And Seollang, reaching the truth without much difficulty—

“Th-this is— ch-cheating....”

teared up in a hollow voice.

As if the sound of someone’s laughter—

someone who had twisted even the law in order to stop Seollang—

was drifting in from far away......