I Became the Patron of Villains

112. Truth…? (2)

After a prolonged silence, Sirkal spoke.

“…Then, why did he not inform us of this fact?”

Sirkal mumbled blankly, as if unable to comprehend, and the chieftain shook his head wearily as he sat down.

“That, I do not know. Just as a mere creature cannot understand the actions of the great, we too cannot fathom his will.”

“But what is certain is that he has saved our tribe once again. Therefore, we must do what we can for him, mustn’t we?”

“Do what we can, you say?”

To Sirkal’s question, the chieftain replied.

“Yes, there is only one thing that mere creatures like us can do for him. That is to offer reverence. That is-“

He smiled brightly.

“That is what we, who have received his grace, must do, and it is your duty as his apostle and future chieftain. Can you do it?”

At the chieftain’s words, the quick-witted Sirkal fell silent for a moment.

At the same time, she recalled.

The pure white light that spread through the ashen world when dealing with Basiliora, the one received by Marquis Palatio.

“……”

In response to Sirkal’s recollection.

“Yes.”

There was no hesitation.

####

It took Alon about two weeks to travel from Caslot to near Teria, the capital of the Kingdom of Asteria, and now they were expected to reach their destination in just one more day.

“Only one day left now, Marquis.”

“Indeed.”

“After we have an audience with the king, will we return to the marquisate immediately?”

“Of course.”

At Evan’s words, Alon, who was practicing magic near the campsite, sighed.

“But Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“Recently, it seems that the magic is getting stronger and stronger?”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, seeing you use the same magic repeatedly for two weeks, I can somewhat tell.”

Alon gazed at the place where he had been practicing magic just moments ago.

‘Yes, I do feel stronger.’

He looked at the space with a large hole in the floor, a peculiar expression on his face.

Although he had been consistently using magic for various explorations, it made no sense for the power of his magic to suddenly increase.

What he was currently researching was efficiency, not power.

As he continued his thoughts, Alon suddenly hypothesized.

‘If I’m getting stronger without any warning, it must be because of my rank… Did my rank rise without me knowing?’

The hypothesis was that the magic itself had become stronger due to the rise in his rank.

Given the current situation, it seemed the most plausible.

However, aside from that, Alon felt himself sinking deeper into confusion.

He had no idea where his rank was accumulating.

‘No matter how much I think about it, I don’t think I’ve done anything to accumulate rank.’

Rank comes from ‘consistent reverence.’

In other words, even if Alon had saved many people with his magic, such one-time events wouldn’t create rank.

Rank was created through an absolute belief that could be described as faith.

‘Where on earth is it accumulating?’

His thoughts deepened in the strange situation.

‘…Could what Deus did last time be considered faith?’

He recalled Deus, who had drawn the tribe members’ responses by telling stories that were a bit more exaggerated than the truth to the Thunder Serpent tribe, but soon shook his head.

‘No matter how much, faith wouldn’t be created from something like that…’

After pondering for a moment, he sighed and pushed the topic aside.

In fact, ‘rank’ wasn’t that important right now.

‘The problem is this.’

Alon looked at the red ring with a snake pattern on his finger.

Wooong-!

Just in case, he tried infusing it with magic.

But strangely, the oath ring that had subjugated Basiliora did not respond.

‘This shouldn’t be happening.’

Though outwardly expressionless, Alon was deeply troubled.

The subjugated entity within the oath ring of Calgunius was supposed to respond and be summoned when magic was infused.

Of course, since Alon’s magical power was infinitely lacking, there was a chance that he could only be summoned as a spirit that couldn’t interfere with reality, but that wasn’t a big problem.

Because there was a way to summon it without being constrained by magical power.

In other words, what Alon needed to confirm at this point was whether Basiliora could be summoned without any problems, but strangely, no matter how much magical power he put in, the summoning didn’t work.

‘More precisely, it feels like it’s about to work but then doesn’t.’

Clearly, his magical power had drained beyond a certain point, and for a moment, the magical array seemed to create a spirit, making it seem like the summoning was working.

‘……Is it deliberately not coming out?’

A reasonable suspicion arose.

‘……I guess I have to ask Heinkel about this.’

He thought of the archmage who was the original owner of this ring and who, according to the setting, used this ring better than anyone else.

“Evan.”

“Yes, Marquis?”

“When is the magic society… going to open again?”

“Well, I’m not very sure… If it opens as usual, it will take about a month.”

A not-so-short time.

In the end, he decided to ask Lian, whom he had met before, for another favor, and this time he looked at the egg of the spirit.

‘I’ve been giving it magical power for almost two weeks, but it doesn’t seem to show any signs.’

He had been giving magical power to that black egg for two weeks straight, even taking potions, but even now, the egg of the spirit showed no reaction.

‘……I guess it’s because my magical power is ridiculously low… Maybe I can find out something if I go to the king.’

He thought so because it was Sian who had sent him to the ruins of Malacca in the first place.

“Marquis. Have some sweet potatoes. Unlike the jungle, it’s chilly here, so the sweet potatoes taste good.”

“……Really?”

Alon, who was fixated on the sweet potatoes.

‘……I guess I’ll find out tomorrow.’

He soon sat next to Evan and took a bite of the well-roasted sweet potato.

“……Delicious.”

“Right?”

“Yes.”

“Ah- I should have brought some Stormby meat too.”

“……I think sweet potatoes are tens of times better.”

Sweet potatoes eaten on an autumn evening were still delicious.

####

And the next evening.

“Marquis, we have arrived.”

“Yes.”

Alon, who now confirmed the familiar landscape of Teria in the distance, said,

“Let’s head straight to the royal castle.”

“Yes.”

They began to head towards where Cretania Sian was.

Not long after,

“Oh, have you arrived?”

He could see the King of Asteria, who greeted him with a still relaxed expression in his office.

####

Deus Macalian’s sister, Silly Macalian, was in a very good mood today.

There were two reasons for her good mood.

One was that her brother, Deus Macalian, who had been on a business trip, returned today and they could have dinner together.

The other was that Silly Macalian had reached the first rank as a mage today.

“Hehe-“

She couldn’t help but laugh.

In her mind, she recalled the words of her teacher, who had taught her magic for the past year and was surprised.

“You have talent.”

Talent.

Those words, coming from a magic teacher who never spoke empty words, were very sweet to Silly.

Her only family, Deus Macalian, possessed a brilliant talent for the sword.

Of course, she didn’t do the foolish thing of being jealous of him, but it was true that she envied him. Therefore, she couldn’t hide her joy at being recognized for her potential as a mage.

Moreover, she had outstanding talent in four of the eight elements in the first rank: fire, ice, lightning, and wind.

“I have to boast to my brother…!”

Silly was looking forward to the feast she would have with Deus.

He would be the happiest person to hear this news.

It was also because of Deus that she started dreaming of becoming a mage.

“Brother suggested I learn magic because of that person, after all.”

####

Silly knew why he was obsessed with magic.

It was impossible not to know.

Whenever his story came up while they were together, a dinner that should have ended in 30 minutes often lasted late into the night.

Moreover, Silly knew that Deus was secretly imitating the Marquis Palatio’s use of magic.

‘I’ll surprise him today…!’

With a heart full of anticipation, she looked forward to the dinner.

Finally, when she met Deus in the evening,

“Brother, I became a magician.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

As expected, a gentle smile appeared on Deus’s lips, and she smiled back.

“You’re really amazing, I knew you could do it.”

Seeing Deus genuinely happy as if it were his own achievement, Silly excitedly shared the story she heard from her master today.

“-Anyway, so, I’m planning to focus on fire and wind among the four elements…!”

Deus nodded several times, giving his sister a warm look.

Just as Silly, still excited, was about to speak again,

“Wait.”

“Master also said that the fire element is easy to learn- huh?”

She realized something strange.

“…Brother?”

The face of Deus, who had been smiling warmly just a moment ago, had become very solemn and stern.

“??”

Silly was bewildered by the sudden change.

However,

“Silly.”

“Yes…?”

“As you know, our Makalian bloodline inherits the elements of lightning and ice.”

“…Uh… Yes?”

She was even more confused.

It was only natural.

As far as she knew, there had never been a wizard born in the Makalian family, and their parents were just ordinary woodcutters and herbalists.

However.

“Um… Brother? There are no wizards in our bloodline-“

Just as Silly was about to argue.

“Silly, this is an important matter. We need to be sure. Is it the flame wind or the ice lightning? Decide here and now.”

Deus interrupted Silly, speaking with a seriousness unmatched by anyone.

As if, truly, the wizards of the Makalian bloodline had been mastering ice and lightning magic for generations.

“……”

Silly looked at Deus.

Deus’s expression was more earnest than ever.

Silly, noticing this, cautiously opened her mouth.

“I think it’s the flame wind-“

“Ice, lightning.”

“But…”

From noble mtl dot com

“Ice, lightning.”

She lost her words.

“……”

“……”

After a short silence.

“Um… Ice, lightning?”

She hesitantly uttered the words, sneaking a glance at her brother.

The two words her brother wanted.

Deus finally nodded repeatedly with a satisfied smile.

“Yes, that’s right.”

“……”

“The Makalian bloodline, that’s right.”

…Makalian bloodline… There’s no such thing…

Silly thought briefly, but didn’t bother to say it out loud.

…It was a strange evening.