I Became the Patron of Villains

70. Is This Really Okay…? (3)

The F-class warrior Litanka, who participated in this battle royale, honestly thought he could handle Count Palatio.

Of course, it wasn’t because he underestimated Alon’s strength.

No matter how ignorant he was of the ways of the world, it made no sense to ignore Count Palatio, who was already widely rumored.

The reason he thought so was simple: the Count was a magician.

Basically, the tribe of magicians needed time to use magic.

The higher the rank of the magic, the shorter the time, but even so, he knew there was a brief moment of delay.

And in this limited space of the arena, he also recognized that this delay was enough time for the warriors to attack.

Therefore, although he was somewhat tense, he thought he had a chance of winning.

In fact, after confirming that Count Palatio was in this battle royale, Litanka, who had united all the warriors except him, thought he could definitely take him down.

But.

Litanka’s arrogance quickly ended as Alon’s magic unfolded.

“This, crazy-”

He involuntarily exclaimed and looked up blankly.

In that place, dozens of ice pillars intertwined to form a small mountain, and at the peak of that mountain, the man looked down at the warriors.

No emotions felt, just indifference.

As all the warriors gripped their weapons, unable to make any move, bewildered.

“Hoo-”

In the cold chill, Alon exhaled white breath and thought as he looked at the warriors who couldn’t approach him.

‘As expected, up to this point.’

Alon formed a seal.

In fact, before participating in today’s battle royale, he had agonized over which magic to use.

Until now, he had always fought strong opponents, so he mostly had single-target magic rather than area-of-effect spells.

In other words, Alon, who could only use magic six times, had foreseen that such a situation could arise and had deeply pondered over it, but soon he was able to decide on the magic he would use.

‘The magic needed here is one that can take down F-rank warriors with maximum range.’

With that judgment, he arranged the magic.

Woom-!

“Enhance.”

Soon, a shield formed at the center of the massive iceberg Alon had created.

“Compress.”

According to the phrase, the center of the massive iceberg was compressed into the shape of a huge hemisphere.

In an instant, the center of the mountain changed into a spherical shape, maintaining a precarious form.

The spectators silently marveled at the state of the iceberg.

The huge spherical object floating in the middle of the iceberg made the precariously maintained iceberg look like a magically driven artwork.

However.

“Vacuum.”

As soon as Alon’s mouth opened once more, the shield, which had been compressed into the shape of a magic sphere, shrank even further.

“Return to the primordial.”

As Alon’s final words were uttered.

Kwaaa-!!!

The iceberg exploded, sweeping away the warriors gathered near the iceberg.

The precariously maintained snowy mountain collapsed with a huge roar.

White dust soared high.

And. When the white dust cleared, what stood in the arena was.

““…….””

Alon was alone.

A brief moment of silence.

[Ah, ahem- The winner of the Battle Royale is Palatio Alon!!!!!]

The commentator, who had been wearing a bewildered expression, quickly regained his composure and announced the result.

In his ears, the sound of thunderous cheers began to be heard.

Alon thought.

‘……If it hadn’t ended in one blow, it would have been dangerous.’

Feeling the mana hole that had been emptied far more than he had anticipated due to the overly large range he had set, he broke into a slight cold sweat.

‘……I guess I need to practice adjusting the array more.’

Thus, one more task was added to his list.

####

Right after the Battle Royale ended, on the way back to the Guild of Seolang.

Alon, who had been instantly promoted from an F-rank fighter to a D-rank fighter with the right to challenge, was wondering which C-rank fighter he should challenge next.

“Count.”

“What is it, Evan?”

“……Yutia has sent a gift?”

“A gift?”

“Yes.”

Hearing such words from Evan, who had been waiting at the guild.

Alon immediately moved to his room and saw the staff placed on the desk.

……The Sparrow Staff he had been trying to obtain.

“……They sent this as a gift?”

“Yes. They said you would like it, Count.”

Evan’s words.

Alon, with a puzzled expression, looked at the staff, but no matter how he looked at it, it was indeed the Sparrow Staff.

‘……What is this?’

He wore a blank expression.

It was no wonder, for as far as he knew, one could never enter the Colony’s treasury and obtain its treasures without proving oneself as a fighter.

According to the setting, the Colony royal family had maintained that tradition ever since they established the kingdom.

The reason Alon never tried to buy the items in the treasure vault with money was because he knew that fact.

Therefore.

‘…How did she do it?’

Alon wondered for a moment how Yutia managed to gift him Sparrow’s staff, but only for a moment.

‘I’ll have to ask Yutia when she comes next time.’

He decided to set aside his questions and feel grateful to her.

Thanks to her obtaining Sparrow’s staff, he was able to get the item he originally intended to obtain as planned.

‘Since I can’t use it today because I’ve exhausted all my magic power, I’ll have to try it tomorrow.’

Feeling as if he had received a gift from a well-raised daughter, he held Sparrow’s staff in his hand.

The next day.

As ‘it’ had said, Alon infused the staff with magic power.

[…Huh? Who are you? Why are you waking me up?]

Even just hearing it, he realized that the voice of a middle-aged man who seemed to have lived a very uncomfortable life echoed in his head.

“I am Palatio Alon.”

[So what?]

“…I came on the recommendation of the Yongin tribe?”

[So what?]

“…”

Feeling a momentary headache from the instinctive warning that the conversation would be difficult, he continued the conversation.

“It seems you don’t like long stories, so I’ll get straight to the point. I heard you are a mage.”

[…In a world where only idiots are left, there is still one fool left.]

“…I heard from the Yongin tribe that if I come to you, you will tell me your phrases and sentences. Can you tell me?”

[What are you going to do with that knowledge?]

“I intend to use it.”

Alon’s answer.

The voice inside the staff, which had been silent for a moment, let out a deep sigh.

[I thought you were a fool who at least knew something, but you’re just an empty-headed idiot.]

The voice of the middle-aged man continued with blatant contempt.

[Hey, idiot, do you think you can use my phrases and sentences just by knowing them?]

“If I couldn’t use them, I wouldn’t have asked you to tell me. I heard from the Yongin tribe that you would tell me without any reservations.”

[Do not speak of things that are only possible when you can use my words and sentences. How can you use my sentences when you haven’t even inherited my imagery?]

The man inside the staff, as if to say the world was full of nonsense, spat out words filled with denial.

Just as Alon fell silent for a moment.

“Count!”

Suddenly, Evan burst through the door.

“What is it?”

“A challenge request has come for you, Count!”

“From whom?”

“I hear it’s an A-rank gladiator. The name is ‘Philsion’… They came from the Colosseum. How should we respond?”

Evan’s question.

Alon thought with a slightly bewildered mind.

‘An A-rank gladiator challenging me? …It’s not impossible, though.’

Basically, a D-rank gladiator can challenge a gladiator one rank above, but an A-rank gladiator could freely send challenge requests to gladiators below their rank.

However, it was rare for A-rank gladiators to send challenge requests to lower-ranked gladiators.

If an A-rank gladiator didn’t fight another A-rank, their rank could drop. If they lost, their rank would change immediately, so the risk was high.

But conversely, for Alon, it was an opportunity to rise to A-rank without going through several fights.

After a moment of contemplation, Alon made up his mind.

“If you can’t believe it, let’s make a bet.”

[…A bet?]

He smiled at the staff.

####

A day later.

Philsion, the A-rank gladiator who had challenged Count Palatio, now a D-rank gladiator, thought as he watched the man walking out from the opposite side of the Colosseum arena.

‘As expected.’

Count Palatio entered amidst thunderous cheers.

Seeing him, Philsion smiled.

In fact, this battle wasn’t a particularly good match for Philsion.

As an A-rank gladiator, defeating the D-rank Count Palatio wouldn’t bring him any honor, and if he lost, he would be demoted from A-rank to D-rank.

However, the reason Philsion had issued the challenge to fight Count Palatio was for one reason only.

To gain publicity.

Certainly, the Count Palatio standing before him was a D-rank fighter, but his strength had already been proven multiple times through rumors.

Moreover, his strength was truly confirmed in the recent battle royale, making him even more famous within the colony.

In other words, what Philsion wanted was to defeat such an Alon and steal that fame.

He had heard rumors that the vacant seat of Baba Yaga would soon be filled by one of the A-rank fighters chosen by the royal family.

Thus, for Philsion, who aimed to become Baba Yaga, this event was a precious opportunity that he could not miss, so he took a gamble, but he was confident he could defeat the Count.

Of course, Philsion did not underestimate Count Palatio.

As mentioned, there were many rumors about his strength, and he had indeed proven his strength in the Colosseum.

Ignoring such a Count Palatio was something only a fool would do.

Especially for fighters.

However, there was only one reason why Philsion could still be confident.

‘Count Palatio only uses ice magic.’

Of course, he was aware that wizards could use other magic besides their main magic.

However, if it wasn’t their main magic, he also knew that the power of that magic would be significantly weaker.

Moreover, before delivering the challenge to the Count, he had thoroughly investigated his opponent and confirmed that he only used ice magic, which further boosted his confidence.

And for good reason-

Sss-!

-His race, the Flame Tribe, could naturally handle fire, which was extremely effective against ice magic.

No matter how great Alon’s ice magic was, it would weaken in the face of the high-temperature flames he emitted, so he smiled.

[Then- let the match begin!]

As the commentator’s voice fell, he spewed flames.

-Fwoosh!

The flames, which made the already hot ground boil even more, burst out in all directions, eliciting gasps from the audience.

At the same time, cold air began to rise from around Alon, engulfing the arena.

“Hmph-”

Unfortunately, Alon’s extreme cold did not reach where Philsion stood.

‘As expected-!’

Philsion twisted his lips and drew his twin swords.

‘How should I handle this? In one go? No- it’s better to let the Count use his magic and then deal with him?- No, I shouldn’t drag it out too long. Rather, I should make it as impactful as possible-‘

Philsion, already thinking as if he had won.

But, unfortunately, his happy thoughts-

“Array of Thunder-”

With the utterance of a new incantation, Alon was finished.

Crackle-!

A vivid blue spark began to envelop Alon’s body, visible to anyone.