I Became the Patron of Villains

65. There Was. (6)

Marquis Philboid felt suffocated by the chilling aura emanating from the person before him, but only for a moment.

He immediately turned, pulling out an artifact from his bosom.

However.

“-!”

Thud-!

The next moment, Marquis Philboid realized his body had collapsed, and he wore a bewildered expression.

Marquis Philboid lowered his gaze to the strange, alien sensation he felt below and saw it.

His own two legs grotesquely twisted.

“aaargh-!!”

The marquis screamed in agony as the excruciating pain hit him belatedly upon seeing it.

“!?”

“What is happening!”

The mercenaries outside the gambling den quickly burst through the door, but.

Crackle-!

As the electric current shot out and disappeared in an instant, Seolang reappeared.

“Ah, ahhh-“

The mercenaries who had been rushing into the gambling den just moments ago had now turned into mere chunks of meat.

And then.

“Ah- what is this- I was trying to handle this quietly, but now it’s become a hassle.”

The beastman, who had crushed and killed all the nearby mercenaries in an instant, rubbed the red blood splattered on his golden hair and looked at Marquis Philboid with a sullen expression.

Despite having taken dozens of lives in an instant, Seolang wore an innocent expression as if this was an everyday occurrence, and Marquis Philboid felt an instinctive fear.

“S-save me.”

He began to plead, his voice trembling.

Seolang, who had been silently watching him, made a sound of contemplation.

“Do you want to live?”

He opened his mouth, and seeing a glimmer of hope, Marquis Philboid immediately grabbed onto it.

“P-please… I am a marquis of the Kingdom of Asteria…! If you spare me here, I promise you ample rewards…!”

A desperate struggle for survival.

However, Seolang squatted in front of the marquis with a curious expression and stared at his face before asking.

“Hey, then why did you say that?”

“W-what?”

“Why did you say that if you wanted to live?”

“…?”

Marquis Philboid wore a completely baffled expression, but.

“Why did you order my master to be killed?”

“…Ah.”

At the following words, he realized.

Who the ‘benefactor’ the beastman with golden eyes was referring to.

“No way, Count Palatio…!”

“Yes, benefactor- no, husband? We’re about to get married soon.”

At Seolang’s nod and smile, the face of Marquis Philboid went blank.

He simply couldn’t understand anything in his current situation.

That there was a beastman who brutally killed an agent with skills beyond Master Knights.

That this beastman had a connection with Count Palatio.

…He couldn’t comprehend the depths of Count Palatio’s abyss at all.

There was only one thing he could predict from hearing about the relationship between the beastman in front of him and Count Palatio.

“…Baba Yaga?”

The beastman in front of him was indeed the Golden Flash, one of the Baba Yagas of the Colony.

“Oh, how did you know?”

At Seolang’s reaction, the marquis involuntarily opened his mouth.

“…Why on earth is a Baba Yaga, who should be in the Colony, here…?”

He couldn’t understand at all.

However, Seolang responded nonchalantly.

“Why, you ask? It’s obvious.”

He answered as if it were the most natural thing.

“There’s no way I’d let anyone who tries to harm my benefactor go, right?”

Seolang’s golden eyes were shining brilliantly.

But, because they were filled with more murderous intent than ever before, he could guess what would happen next.

Thud-!

After hearing the sound of something bursting, the marquis’s thoughts ceased to continue.

And then.

“Absolutely not, no way.”

Seolang, who had blown off the marquis’s head, wore a terribly cold expression.

“No one can touch my benefactor.”

And then, he disappeared somewhere.

The week-long royal ball had come to an end.

Cretania Siyan had not shown herself since the third day, and Count Palatio, though not yet officially recognized by the king, was now effectively known as Marquis Palatio.

‘What on earth is Siyan’s intention?’

And so, Alon, who had endured a week of ‘What now?’ from Count Zenonia and Duke Altia, managed to buy some time.

He had pondered over why she had bestowed the title upon him, but still couldn’t grasp her intentions.

In truth, he wanted to ask her directly, but that was impossible from the start. So, while he was pleased to have risen to the rank of marquis, he couldn’t shake off a peculiar unease.

Nevertheless, he had to leave the capital immediately to check his future schedule.

‘…There are quite a few things to do.’

‘First, I need to visit the ruins and meet ‘it’ again, and I have to go to Raxas to activate the ring… I’ve also devised a strategy, so I need to lay the groundwork for the agent first. Ah, should I visit the Colosseum in Colony while I’m at it?’

If one achieved a certain number of victories in the Colosseum event in Colony, they could gain an audience with the king and obtain one of the relics from the treasure vault.

Recalling this, Alon calmly organized his thoughts.

From noble mtl dot com

A moment later.

He set his priorities.

‘Let’s lay the groundwork for the agent first.’

In terms of urgency, meeting ‘it’ in the forgotten ruins was slightly more important, but since the place to lay the groundwork was on the way to Colony, he set the order.

A few days later, he arrived at the small territory of Atla, on the border of the plains and the desert, and moved eastward.

And then.

“Count- no, should I call you Marquis now?”

“You’ve said that ten times already, call me whatever you want.”

“Then I’ll continue to call you Count for now. But Count, is this the place?”

In response to Evan’s question, Alon glanced around.

The surrounding scenery was quite peculiar.

On one side was a forest, but on the other side was an endless expanse of desert sand.

Alon, who had been quietly observing the contrast, stood up.

“Yes.”

“Are we going to a labyrinth like last time?”

As Alon got off the carriage, he opened his mouth in response to Evan’s question.

“No. There’s a place I need to visit briefly, so wait here.”

“Do I not need to follow?”

“Yes.”

Eventually, he began to walk into the forest.

How long had he walked?

“There it is.”

The entrance to a cave hidden by vines appeared deeper in the forest.

A natural cave, untouched by human hands.

However, Alon knew that what lay before him was not a natural cave, and he felt a bit tense.

After all, inside this natural cave was the leader of the agents he had to deal with.

In the early stages of Psychedelia, this notorious boss, known as Al-Kama, was called the Spine Cutter, infamous for making even seasoned players curse.

He was strong enough to face more than five agents, who were considered to be at the level of Master Knights.

In the game, he was as strong as the mid-level bosses, so Alon let out a small sigh.

‘Let’s just stick to the plan.’

With that thought, he cleared his throat and steadied himself.

“By the first covenant, fulfill one promise.”

He spoke.

After a moment.

“……?”

Nothing happened.

‘What is this……?’

Alon wore a puzzled expression.

“By the first covenant, fulfill one promise.”

He spoke again, calling out to the leader of the agents inside the cave, but still, there was no response.

‘This can’t be happening……?’

After several attempts, Alon, bewildered by the absence of the one who should have appeared, moved his body and began to walk deeper into the cave.

And. How long had he walked into the dark cave?

At some point, unlike the entrance of the cave, a massive mansion built inside the cave revealed itself.

A mansion so grand that it could rival the Pallatio Count’s house where Alon lived.

It was as if it matched the dignity of the leader of the strong agents, and he was slightly impressed by its scale, filling the entire cavern.

Of course, he had visited several times to kill the leader and steal his relics, but seeing it in person was vastly different from seeing it in the game’s illustrations.

But that was only for a moment.

Soon, he found a point of doubt.

‘Everything. Is it all shattered?’

From a distance, it was not noticeable, but as one got closer, it became clear that the mansion, which should have been intact, was indeed shattered.

Finally, upon entering the mansion.

“……?”

He looked bewildered at the sight of the mansion of Al-Kamae, the leader of the agents, which was practically half-destroyed.

####

Al-Kamae had lived for 300 years, and the number of people he had killed was countless.

He had beheaded more than a dozen sword masters.

He had annihilated a kingdom by slaughtering its king and all the royal family.

He had also killed the master of the Purple Tower, the owner of the Magic Tower.

In addition, he had massacred thousands of knights alone.

150 years ago, he had waged a war against a territory by himself and erased it from history. He was undeniably strong, no matter who looked at him.

He was feared and revered by all agents with skills above Master Knights.

That’s why he felt annoyed.

He didn’t know through what means, but an arrogant girl had come to kill him.

He, who had been hiding for the greater good, thought of playing with her as a light toy and then killing her.

Surely, surely that was the plan.

That was the plan, but-

“……Cough-!”

Al-Kamae coughed up blood and looked at the being in front of him with trembling eyes.

In front of him stood a girl.

Dressed in a black holy robe embroidered with red,

Holding a staff emitting a chilling red light in one hand.

At first, she posed no threat.

But even so, he.

Al-Kamae felt a clear fear as he looked at her.

It wasn’t just fear.

Terror, despair, emptiness.

All those emotions were intricately intertwined, entangling him.

Because of the girl in front of him.

Because of her.

Because of her.

Behind her-

‘What on earth- is that-’

-Due to the dozens of tentacles flowing out from the black space-

He realized that his own cognition was repeating itself.

Even when he consciously realized it, his thoughts were not clear.

The same thoughts consciously circled in his mind.

Fear.

Despair.

Emptiness.

Terror.

Various emotions that drove Al-Kamae into the terrible abyss of hell were felt constantly.

And then.

“Why- to me-!”

In that terrible fear, Al-Kamae, whose eyes were bloodshot, somehow managed to utter a word, staring blankly at her-

No, at Yutia.

“Because you tried to touch Him.”

With chilling red eyes, she pronounced the sentence to him, who was vomiting blood on the floor.

Then,

“!”

Black tentacles grabbed Al-Kamae and began to drag him into the black rift.

It happened in an instant.

Al-Kamae, trying to resist somehow, forced himself to rise and swung his sword, but the sword that had killed even the Swordmaster was utterly powerless in front of a girl.

“No, nooo-!!”

With a horrifying sound, he disappeared without even leaving a corpse.

A week.

That was the time it took for the organization known as the ‘Agents’, which had been lurking in the world for about 50 years, to completely disappear.

And then.

“I would have tortured you to death, but I have things to do right now.”

Yutia muttered as she looked towards the direction where Al-Kamae had disappeared.

“Thank Serlang.”

Beyond the forest, she gazed at the desert.

More precisely, at the place where the desert city of Colony was located.

“…I had to kill you quickly because I need to move fast too.”

She turned her body.

In her hand was a letter sent by Alon.

A letter from Alon, saying he might go to the desert city again.

“Finally…”

A small smile played on her lips.