I Became the Patron of Villains

38. The City on the Desert Colony (3)

Riyan Aguilarus does not like lies.

She goes beyond dislike to abhor them.

This is because, while she enjoyed abundant benefits living as the daughter of the Red Tower Lord, she also experienced countless lies and deceptions in proportion.

…Lies so intense they left her traumatized.

Thus, she hated lies with a compulsive cleanliness, and due to the trauma of her childhood, she especially abhorred those who lied if they were magicians.

In that sense, when she first met Count Palatio, Riyan Aguilarus instinctively had no choice but to abhor him.

Contrary to the rumors that Count Palatio had made a significant contribution to capturing outer gods, he was weak.

Although he did not have the ‘eye’ that is essential to becoming a high-ranking magician, she, who had some talent, could easily see Alon’s magic.

A tiny amount of magic.

He was certainly a magician, but the amount was so small that it seemed he could barely reach the second rank, which reminded her of one rumor.

The rumor that, after the one about Count Palatio’s great contribution to blocking outer gods, he was the benefactor of Deus Macalian, one of the Master Knights.

The story that he had stolen Deus Macalian’s achievements quickly became the truth in Riyan Aguilarus’s mind.

And the story, which she came to regard as truth, instilled in her a hatred for the Count.

Yes,

It must have been so.

‘How, could it?’

Riyan was staring at Alon with a shocked expression.

More precisely, she was looking at the phenomenon Alon had caused.

A situation where, centered around him, a space had been created in the middle of this scorching desert that was cold enough to chill the lungs.

Seeing even the sand around him starting to frost, Riyan couldn’t comprehend the situation at all.

This was absolutely not a magic that could be realized with the amount of mana Alon possessed.

And that wasn’t all.

Even though Riyan didn’t know how this magic was implemented, she could understand its structure.

‘Compound magic, with at least three or more…!’

Compound magic.

Theoretically, it would be a very long story to explain, but to put it simply, it meant implementing two magics in conjunction.

Of course, linking magic was never an easy task.

To implement magic, various additional elements were needed, but ultimately, the basic array structure had to be maintained.

In other words, this was what linkage meant.

If even one structure was disrupted, the implementation would be canceled, and one had to be able to re-establish each magic with their own equation to use it. As the number of linked magics increased by one, the difficulty would rise to an unimaginable level.

In short, it was a method that only a mage of at least the 5th rank could challenge.

That’s why Riyan, who was blankly watching Alon prepare the next magic,

“!”

witnessed the next moment.

The man with the eyepatch, who had been in front of her just a moment ago, had suddenly reached Alon.

A situation that no one had perceived in an instant.

The mercenaries, realizing that protecting Alon was the most advantageous in this battle, belatedly turned their bodies.

Riyan also instinctively began to prepare magic to help Alon, but it was already too late.

The man with the eyepatch was already in front of him with a sinister smile, ready to swing his dual blades.

However, what Riyan saw was not Alon’s head being severed—

“Freeze.”

Crack-!

—the man who had been about to swing his dual blades was instantly frozen.

The man, who had been in the state of swinging his dual blades, instantly turned into an ice statue in that fleeting moment.

“Destruction.”

With a low murmur that escaped from Alon’s lips.

Crack-crack-crack!

With the sound of ice shattering, the man’s corpse, which had plunged everyone into despair just moments ago, was broken into pieces in an instant.

Silence.

“Hoo-“

With a low sigh from Alon’s lips, another puff of white steam passed over him.

Alon, who had formed a seal that even Liyan couldn’t fully understand, retrieved his hand and said-

“I’ll give you a chance.”

– As if he had anticipated all of this, he looked indifferently at the bandits who had been tense since a moment ago, without any change in expression, and opened his mouth.

“Get lost.”

A low, but clear and intentional declaration that anyone could understand.

With a single attack, the bandits, who had lost their leader in an instant, seemed to murmur for a moment, then turned and began to flee one by one.

After that, as if nothing had happened, Alon calmly dispelled the magic.

“……”

Liyan continued to stare at him, realizing how ignorant she had been.

A small admiration filled her eyes.

Watching the bandits, who had been hesitant, quickly disappear into the distance, Alon felt a sigh of relief and bewilderment behind his expressionless face.

‘The process was different from what I thought, but it turned out as intended, so that’s a relief.’

Alon knew about the Blood Sand Bandits.

They appeared as a sub-story in the game.

In the game, this bandit group had the characteristic of scattering if their leader was dealt with, so he had aimed to quickly deal with the leader, and he was able to do so as intended.

…It was unexpected that the guy suddenly rushed in before he had properly manipulated the magic array, but it worked out.

‘Reducing the penalty was effective after all.’

Alon felt the hot heat seeping back into his lungs.

The cold that had spread from Alon just moments ago was the magic ‘Severe Cold’ that he had devised and created over more than half a year since returning from Caliburn.

The effect of this magic, which could only be created by simultaneously using spatial magic, cold magic, and maintenance magic, was literally to temporarily change the surrounding environment to match the ‘severe cold’ of the north. But for Alon, that was important.

‘Severe Cold’ was one of the four restrictions he had placed to kill the Outsider, as it could twist the world’s laws when magic was used on the land of severe cold.

In other words, this magic was quite important to him as it allowed him to reduce the four penalties he originally had to bear to three.

The negative cost of the restriction reduces Alon’s magical abilities.

‘The magic I created in conjunction with the extreme cold is also well implemented. The difference between having one less penalty and not is significant. Because of the belt, the magic itself has become stronger than I originally thought… even more than I originally thought.’

He felt a moment of bewilderment at that.

‘Well, good is good.’

For a moment, Alon shrugged his shoulders and consciously moved his hand to touch the ‘Belt of the Forgotten’ with three amethysts embedded in it at his waist, smiling.

Since it doubled the damage received in the game while doubling the damage dealt, the effect was definitely applied to Alon, who was carrying three penalties.

‘…If I get ‘that’ here, I can definitely eliminate at least one more penalty.’

Thinking that, Alon naturally untied the belt and put it into his pocket.

‘Still, I need to take a look at the extreme cold. The maintenance time is too short compared to consuming three uses of magic. It seems to be less than a minute at most… Should I look into that too?’

Thinking that, he returned to the carriage.

From that day, including that exact day, until the time when they were almost at the desert city, two changes occurred to Alon.

“Ah, Count Palatio, this is a wine specially produced in Gur, and it is said to be very delicious. How about a glass?”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, and this is ham that I brought to sell as a specialty in this city. Would you like to try it? It is very delicious…!”

The first change was that Rad, the head of the Golden Hair Merchant Guild, had a 180-degree change in attitude.

As if he would give away his liver and gallbladder, Rad brought more gifts in one night than he had given to Rian in the past few days.

“If there is anything else you want, please let me know right away!”

He rubbed his hands together so much that it seemed they might disappear, then bowed deeply and disappeared.

“A person has changed 180 degrees, no, 360 degrees?”

“…360 degrees means they are the same, doesn’t it?”

“It means their reaction has changed that much.”

The second change was.

“Count Palatio.”

“…Rian Aguilarus?”

“Yes, if it is not too much trouble, I would like to discuss magic with you. Is that alright?”

Rian Aguilarus’s attitude towards Alon had completely changed.

On the night the bandits attacked, Rian came to Alon and bowed his head at a right angle to apologize, something that seemed impossible before. From the next day, he often came to Alon to ask various questions about magic.

“Ah, so in this part, you arrange the magic power arbitrarily-”

“Yes, to use the compound, you must not break the arrangement, so instead of fixing the arrangement structure, you twist it with rotation-”

Conversations with Riyan Aguilarus were quite beneficial for Alon.

Until now, Alon had been self-taught in magic, twisting the nature of magic through phrases, so Riyan’s questions and knowledge were academically quite helpful.

Moreover, when he explained the array structure, which was slightly superior to hers, her low reactions like “Oh…” or “Wow…” were quite satisfying, whether she was conscious of it or not.

Of course, as the conversations increased, the overly burdensome gaze of admiration she sent was a bit awkward.

“Here.”

“This is…?”

“A potion.”

Today, too, as soon as the conversation ended, Riyan naturally handed over a magic recovery potion.

Although it wasn’t top-grade like the one Penia had given, the ones she had been handing over for days were quite expensive, so Alon felt a bit embarrassed behind his expressionless face.

“…You don’t have to bring a gift every time you visit.”

“I’m in a position to receive teachings. Please accept it without burden.”

Almost forcibly handing over the potion each time, he eventually obtained about four magic potions by the time he arrived in the desert city.

After a journey of over a week, Alon arrived in the desert city and parted ways with Rad, who told him to entrust any necessary tasks to him, and Riyan, who promised to visit again and formally apologize.

“…It’s understandable for a merchant, but the daughter of the tower lord has changed her attitude so much that it’s hard to adapt.”

Evan muttered as he watched Riyan leave.

With those words, Alon entered the desert city and leisurely looked around.

The buildings had a sandy hue, unlike the capital of Asteria, but many buildings, including the massive colosseum visible from the southern gate, gave a sense of overwhelming grandeur.

‘It could hold over 100,000 people.’

Alon, leaving his impressions while looking at the massive colosseum visible beyond numerous buildings, moved with Evan to head to where the wolves were.

After about 20 minutes.

“Hey, noble lord, care to have a chat with us?”

“…”

Alon was confronted.

In front of him and Evan was a group of over ten people, with faces that screamed ‘I’m a thug.’

However, amusingly, the mercenaries around them just watched without taking any action, even with the appearance of thugs confronting Alon.

No, some even looked on with interest, as if this was a common occurrence, while others pretended not to see the situation at all.

A very peculiar situation.

“If the conversation goes well, we’ll introduce you to our ‘Mariam’ brother, okay?”

However, with the words that soon followed from the thug’s mouth, Alon understood this peculiar situation.

‘……Are these guys Maliam’s subordinates?’

Alon, who recalled the name of Maliam, one of the four Babayagas in the colony and known as the “Grotesque Beast,” soon realized his mistake.

‘This place, it’s Maliam’s territory.’

Alon sighed helplessly as he remembered that in the game, thugs like these would appear to extort money when entering Maliam’s territory.

‘……Do I have to get robbed without a fight?’

He knew that fighting here was the worst option.

It would be easy to deal with the thug blocking the road, but if he did, Alon would end up making an enemy of one of the four Babayagas.

As he was about to search his pockets, knowing that unnecessary restrictions would be placed on him if he had to stay in the colony for several more days.

Tap-

“Hey, are you sighing in front of us?”

The thug, who had been wearing a twisted smile until just a moment ago, tapped Alon on the forehead.

The thug wore a twisted smile as if dealing with a bothersome child.

At that moment, Evan, who was standing next to him, instinctively frowned and tried to draw his sword.

Boom-!

The man who had tapped Alon on the forehead was suddenly slammed to the side.

It happened in an instant.

As they watched the man who had been suddenly thrown into the building next to them, Evan and Alon wore bewildered expressions, and the thugs who had been sneering just moments ago suddenly had their expressions frozen.

“Hey-”

And then.

“What are you doing to my mentor?”

Crackle-!

“Huh? Tell me.”

-With lightning.

“What did you do?”

The faces of the thugs, who had been sneering just moments ago, began to fill with surprise and fear.

“Tell me the story.”

Golden eyes, glowing.