I Became the Patron of Villains

76. The Pirate King of Raxas (3)

Felin Crysinne is a genius.

A prodigy who reached the third rank at a young age, a talent so undeniable that no wizard would dispute it.

However, unfortunately, the name Felin Crysinne is not well known.

This is because Felin Crysinne’s talent could not surpass that of his sister, Penia Crysinne.

His genius was overshadowed by his sister’s even greater talent. Despite this, Felin did not resent Penia.

On the contrary, he admired her.

She could effortlessly perform magic that he struggled with.

Seeing Penia, who had already become the vice-tower master of the Blue Tower at such a young age, recognized by the tower master, he felt a sense of pride.

A pride that he shared the same bloodline as Penia Crysinne.

Penia Crysinne, who became the deputy tower master at a young age, took pride in being his sister.

Therefore, to him…

“It’s been a while.”

“A while… indeed.”

“How have you been?”

“Y-yes… of course…!”

The current situation was beyond surreal, it was nothing short of shocking.

“So, what brings you here?”

“Ah, well, the tower master said there was something to do in Raxas-“

Penia, who usually acted arrogantly towards everyone except the tower master, awkwardly smiled, leaving Pellin dumbfounded.

He had never seen Penia act like this towards anyone.

“This can’t be…”

“What can’t be?”

Evan, sitting in the carriage, asked as Pellin mumbled.

But Pellin remained in shock, as if he couldn’t hear anything.

“My sister, speaking so politely?”

“…?”

It was as if he had witnessed his proud sister, who walked her own path, conforming to the world, leaving him with a hollow expression.

However…

“Just yesterday, she slapped a noble three times and froze him with ice magic…”

“??”

“A few days ago, she caught a merchant trying to swindle her, destroyed all their carriages, and even froze the guards who came late, causing a ruckus at the lord’s castle…”

“…”

As Penia’s outrageous actions flowed smoothly from his mouth, Evan looked at Pellin anew and thought.

‘…Indeed, many wizards are crazy.’

Pellin, who admired his sister’s outrageous deeds, and Penia, who committed those deeds.

As Evan listened to the astonishing stories, he updated his prejudice against wizards once again.

“So, is that guy your brother?”

“Y-yes…! I’m really sorry…! He has been living in the tower all his life, so he knows nothing about the world…!”

Penia, bowing her head deeply in response to his question, answered lightly.

“You don’t need to bow your head like that. It seems you didn’t know, so I understand.”

“Th-thank you!”

Penia bowed her head again, letting out a sigh of relief.

“Sister, why are you speaking so formally-“

Felin, who had been wearing a blank expression until a moment ago, finally opened his mouth, but his words were cut off.

“Shut up!”

Smack!

Penia began to mercilessly beat him with her staff before he could even finish his sentence.

For a moment.

“S-sorry… I’m sorry… He’s just very young…!”

As Penia approached and apologized again, leaving the trembling Felin behind, Alon was reminded that she was often portrayed as a bit of a sociopath in the game settings.

“No, it’s fine. Besides, if you’re heading to Raxas, we have the same destination, so let’s go together.”

“What? No, there’s no need for that.”

“Do you dislike it?”

“N-no? It’s not that… It’s just, well…”

At Alon’s question, Penia, who had been beating Felin like a demon with her staff just a moment ago, began to glance around nervously, her eyes darting back and forth.

Like a mouse in front of a cat, trying to figure out how to escape the situation.

“If you don’t want to, we don’t have to go together.”

“N-no, it’s just…”

Alon spoke lightly, as he was simply trying to show goodwill, but Penia suddenly shivered as if she had goosebumps all over her body and muttered.

“I-I’ll go.”

“Really? You don’t have to go with me.”

With a displeased expression, Alon confirmed once more.

“N-no! Please, let me go with you!”

Unlike a moment ago when she was hesitant about the company, Penia now insisted that she wanted to go as soon as he confirmed her intention.

Feeling a bit strange, as if he had threatened her, Alon nodded.

“Then let’s go.”

As they began heading towards Raxas, with the trembling Felin in tow, Alon heard two stories from Penia.

First, why the two of them were scavenging for food in the middle of the road, which seemed to be due to a major trouble with the merchant they were traveling with.

According to Fenia, after a slight quarrel, she made a small mistake and fled.

…Why did she flee without even taking any provisions, just because of a small mistake? I wondered, but there was no point in asking further, and more importantly—

“……”

“……”

Seeing Evan and Felin looking at Fenia with different subtle expressions, he roughly grasped the situation and naturally changed the subject.

And during that time, he could hear another interesting story from her.

“…The ship disappears?”

“To be precise, it only happens near the Relic Coast, but they say the ship is dragged into the sea.”

“A disaster?”

“No, according to the treasure hunter, it seems to be a ‘mermaid’.”

“…Mermaid?”

“Yes. Of course, it’s not certain. Mermaids have already disappeared long ago.”

There was a moment of silence at Fenia’s words.

‘Why are mermaids appearing now?’

Of course, Alon knew that mermaids appeared in Psychedelia.

However, the timing was strange.

It was still a time when the existence of mermaids had not been revealed.

Although two foreign news had already come out, making the timing of their appearance largely meaningless, even considering that, the appearance of mermaids was quite early according to the game’s basic settings.

Alon tilted his head slightly.

‘No, mermaids shouldn’t be able to appear at this point in time.’

Unlike the foreign news that existed abstractly, he recalled the setting that was uniquely attached to mermaids and felt a sense of unease.

Anyway, if mermaids appeared at this point in time, it meant that other foreign news could also appear.

Therefore, Alon, who was pondering,

“We have arrived.”

He organized his thoughts at Evan’s words coming from outside.

Even if mermaids appeared, the fact that Alon had to go to Raxas did not change.

So, he got off at the Kimin territory, which was also part of Raxas’s territory, and immediately headed to the port, leaving the carriage behind.

Because to enter the capital of Raxas, one must take a ship.

The four of them soon arrived at the port, and luckily, they found a ship just about to depart.

However, the problem was.

“100 gold coins per head.”

The man who appeared to be the captain was blatantly mocking Alon and Fenia, trying to swindle them.

“Huh? 100 gold coins per head?”

“That’s right.”

“Do you think that makes any sense right now?”

“If you think it doesn’t make sense, you can take the regular ship that comes in two weeks.”

The captain smirked.

Despite vaguely guessing that Alon was a noble and knowing that Fenia and Felin were mages, he was brazenly trying to rip them off.

“Ha- Do you know who I am?”

Fenia spoke intimidatingly, scattering her magical power, but the man only flinched slightly and continued speaking.

“Whoever you are, it’s none of my business. Whether you’re nobles or mages, this is my ship. It’s my decision to set the fare.”

The man spoke confidently.

Watching him, Alon roughly guessed why the man could be so brazen.

‘He must have connections higher up.’

The fact that he could speak without fear in front of a noble meant that he had connections higher up who would cover for him even if he swindled nobles like this.

After a moment of contemplation, Alon spoke.

“So, are you going to board or not?”

He looked at the arrogant captain and opened his mouth.

“…Then, is it 400 gold coins?”

“That’s right.”

“I’ll pay.”

“?”

The captain’s face momentarily showed confusion.

He hadn’t expected such an offer to be accepted, and he was momentarily stunned, but only for a moment.

“Take it.”

When Alon handed over the money pouch, the captain accepted it.

Although he still seemed a bit unsure, the captain gestured with a delighted expression.

“Board. I’ll take you there.”

The captain, with a despicable smile that made one want to punch him, entered the ship.

“Count, are you really going to pay? Even considering the high price, it’s nearly ten times the usual rate.”

In a bewildering situation, Evan asked back with a surprised expression.

“But there’s no other way.”

As long as there was a line above, there was no way to do anything.

Even if they managed to haggle the price down, it was clear that without paying this much money, they wouldn’t be able to go to Laxas for another two weeks, so they had no choice but to hand over the money.

…In fact, it was an unimaginable luxury originally, but thanks to the treasure he received from the king of the colony last time, his pockets were quite full.

‘…Penny and Phelin must have a lot of money, should I have asked them to pay…?’

…Of course, even if his pockets were full, it wasn’t that such thoughts didn’t cross his mind.

Anyway, in the end, Alon and his party paid the price and boarded the merchant ship heading to Laxas.

####

On the first day of the merchant ship’s journey to Laxas.

Having heard that they would arrive in the city in three days, Alon was resting in the room assigned by the captain.

“Uweeeek-“

Looking at Evan, who was lying on the bed with a blue face, groaning, he asked.

“Are you okay?”

“I feel like I’m going to die, Count… I think it would be better to just die. Ugh-!”

Seeing him rush out more than five times since waking up, Alon realized that he was weak to seasickness.

“Ugh…”

“…”

Moreover, even Penny.

Seeing her, like Evan, with a blue face and a dizzy expression, rushing out holding her mouth urgently, he thought.

‘Even the sixth rank can’t avoid seasickness.’

Seeing Penny, who had been practically in a state of near-death since yesterday and couldn’t even move a finger along with Evan, he sighed in relief.

‘I’m glad I don’t get seasick.’

How long had it been since he first gave a positive evaluation to his own body, which had a magic hole as small as a flea.

Deng deng deng deng-!

Suddenly, the sound of a bell rang out from the sea, which had only been making the sound of waves and the eerie sound of rusty iron clanging with each wave.

“Enemy attack!! Pirates!”

“!”

Feeling the merchant ship suddenly becoming noisy, Alon moved his body and went outside.

He could see the situation on the deck.

Without a moment to spare, countless pirates were climbing onto the deck.

Alon immediately moved his fingers clad in gauntlets to activate the frost, but…

“……”

He soon hesitated.

If he misused his magic here and the ship got wrecked, the situation would become extremely dangerous for him.

Realizing that if the ship got wrecked with no alternative, they would be buried in the sea, he continued to ponder.

In the blink of an eye, he decided to let himself be captured by the pirates who were pointing swords at him.

####

In the end, Alon was captured by the pirates.

Penia, unable to overcome her seasickness, fainted half-hanging on the deck railing and was captured without any resistance, her staff confiscated, and the same happened to Evan and Phelin.

And in such a situation…

“Let’s make a deal, a deal…! You can take all the goods, and in addition, there are wizards and nobles you might like! Over there, over there!! A noble with quite a lot of money! You can surely get a high ransom!”

Seeing the captain, who was captured along with other mercenaries and crew members, selling them out to the pirates without hesitation, Alon made an incredulous face.

“That b*stard…!”

Evan, similarly enraged, furrowed his brow deeply.

However, Alon did not feel a great sense of crisis in this situation.

The reason being, Alon’s magic required time to form words and seals, so he had deliberately let himself be captured by the pirates.

Moreover…

‘…As expected.’

Penia, who was not in a normal state due to seasickness, had already undone the magical restraints the pirates had placed on her and was looking at Alon.

Anyone could see that she was waiting to move in sync with Alon as soon as he started.

‘…Shall we give it a try?’

As Alon finished his contemplation and was about to utter the words…

“Annoyingly noisy.”

From the pirate ship with hooks attached, a man appeared.

Clad in what looked like expensive silver armor, holding a blue trident.

A man so dignified that he could not be seen as a pirate approached the captain with a relaxed expression.

“Sea King…!?”

The captain called out the man’s alias with a shocked expression.

Penia’s face, which had been understanding the situation after waking up from her fainting state, twisted with anxiety.

Penia, who had already done some preliminary research before coming here, knew who the Sea King was talking about.

‘The Pirate King…!’

She gritted her teeth at the appearance of a strong man who was called the Great Pirate, unifying six of the Seven Archipelagos, and had a huge bounty on his head only in Raxas.

The situation was getting worse and worse.

‘…What the hell are you thinking!?’

So, when Penia was anxiously watching Count Palatio, who was just staring at the Pirate King without taking any action in the current situation.

“That can’t be… Is there a noble?”

The man spoke to the captain as if he had no interest in such things.

“Th-there, over there!”

As the captain stammered and pointed to where Alon was, the man naturally turned his gaze.

“…Huh?”

After a moment of silence, he soon showed a surprised expression.

And then-

“…Brother?”

The man, called the Sea King and the Pirate King, Radan, looked at Alon with a surprised expression and opened his mouth.

““?””

Everyone’s eyes, including Penia’s, were fixed on Alon.