Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 555: A Flash (4)

The next day.

Penia slowly opened her eyes and blankly stared at the ceiling.

A ceiling that was not particularly familiar to her.

“......Ah.”

Forcing her still barely functioning mind to work, Penia gradually recalled yesterday’s memories one by one before slowly turning her gaze to the side.

The window beside the bed was blue.

The scenery of a late dawn before the sun had fully risen.

As she absentmindedly stared at that view, Penia instinctively checked her condition and became slightly surprised.

Her body felt stable overall.

......Honestly, though she had pretended otherwise at first, Penia had inwardly believed there was a possibility her magic hole had suffered permanent damage.

The reason was simple.

Because she had pushed herself that hard.

The amount of magic power Penia possessed was enormous.

It would not be an exaggeration to say there were almost no mages capable of matching her.

But even for someone like her, not only eroding the distortion field but maintaining it was incredibly taxing.

Because eroding a distortion field meant continuously calculating endlessly shifting coordinates and forcibly maintaining their position in real time.

And that wasn’t all.

Penia had already used a tremendous amount of magic before even touching the distortion field.

Meaning that by the time she reached the point where she had to maintain the final distortion field, her magic power had essentially been depleted.

So although she had expected permanent damage, her surprise at finding herself in far better condition than expected lasted only briefly.

Penia also vaguely realized how long she must have been asleep.

‘Two days. Maybe three.’

Someone must have taken measures externally, but even so, it would take at least that much time for her body to stabilize this thoroughly.

Having finished her thoughts, her gaze naturally shifted.

And after some time passed—

‘......Lord Alon?’

Penia saw Alon.

Silently staring out the window at the dawn before sunrise.

“......”

Penia quietly watched him.

Perhaps because he had not slept at all, his eyes looked deeply sunken.

He even appeared gaunt.

“......Lord Alon?”

Penia unconsciously called out.

Perhaps because she had kept silent for so long, her voice embarrassingly came out a little hoarse.

But—

“Penia.”

At her call, Alon turned his head and walked toward her as though such things did not matter at all.

“Are you alright?”

“Yes, I think so for now. My magic hole doesn’t seem damaged either.”

“That’s fortunate.”

An expressionless face.

An expressionless tone.

......And yet Penia could tell.

There was unmistakable concern in his voice.

“Thank you for worrying about me.”

“......That’s only natural.”

Alon’s calm reply.

Normally, hearing those words would have made Penia struggle to suppress a grin spreading across her face.

But right now, no smile formed on her lips.

No—

She couldn’t smile.

Because she knew.

She knew what kind of situation this was.

“......”

“......”

Alon said nothing.

Penia was the same.

An extremely quiet silence.

How long had it lasted?

“......Are you alright?”

Penia quietly asked.

Not exactly fitting words for someone who had nearly died from magical exhaustion to ask the person who had waited beside her.

Yet neither Penia nor Alon found anything strange about it.

To begin with, both of them knew exactly what she meant.

And after another short silence passed—

“Yes. I’m alright.”

Alon finally spoke.

Very calmly.

Without any visible change in expression.

“......”

Penia stared at him for a while before quickly realizing he was lying.

His expression remained emotionless.

His tone was unchanged as well.

Even his voice sounded normal.

And yet despite all that, Penia could clearly feel it.

The emotions coming from Alon.

“......Really?”

Penia asked once more.

At that, Alon nodded.

His expression did not change at all.

But—

“Yes. If I remain crushed by despair, that would only be disrespectful to him.”

Alon spoke.

In the same unchanged voice as always.

Calmly.

......But carrying a faint loneliness within it.

“Ah......”

A slight exclamation escaped Penia.

She understood what Alon meant.

Penia and Evan had never exactly been especially close.

To begin with, the two of them had always traded sharp insults like siblings.

And yet even so, after spending so many years around Evan, Penia understood Alon’s words.

“Honestly... yeah. If it were Evan, I don’t think he’d like that.”

“......Right?”

“Yes. After risking his life to save someone, he’d probably whine about why you look so miserable.”

At Penia’s faint laugh, Alon also smiled slightly.

“Yes. He probably would.”

“......Yes.”

Penia did not continue with the words probably.

Both of them already knew.

Everything they were saying right now was only assumption.

A hypothetical maybe.

But Penia deliberately did not bring that up.

Because it felt like acknowledging it.

As though merely saying maybe meant admitting—

That they would never see him again.

“......”

Because she no longer wanted to watch Alon grieve.

She remained silent.

“......”

“......”

Another silence settled between them.

“You should rest more.”

This time, Alon spoke first.

“Ah, yes. What about you, Lord Alon?”

“I think I should sleep for a bit as well....... Though just in case, don’t worry too much. I simply had some things to think about, so I couldn’t sleep.”

......After telling his usual gentle lie, Alon rose from his seat.

“Then get some more rest.”

Giving a light farewell, he turned and began walking away.

And as Penia watched him—

“Um—”

She suddenly called out to him.

“What is it?”

Alon turned back.

At that, Penia opened her mouth—

“Th-”

Then fidgeted with her lips once more.

She didn’t know what to say.

She wanted to comfort him.

But the words would not come easily.

Because she couldn’t tell what was right.

Whether she even had the right to comfort Alon at all.

......If—

If only she had been a little stronger—

Then perhaps she could have brought Evan back.

And so—

“Please rest well, Lord Alon.”

That was what Penia finally said.

“......Alright. I’ll see you in a little while.”

Alon lightly nodded before turning and leaving the room.

Click.

After the sound echoed and silence settled over the room—

Inside that room.

Watching the slowly rising sun that moved completely contrary to her feelings—

“......”

Penia slowly clenched the hand that had been fidgeting helplessly, feeling strangely miserable.

####

“Huu—”

The master of the Library of Eternity.

Rine Grof quietly let out a sigh.

A sigh carrying exhaustion, and something faintly sticky beneath it.

When Rine slowly turned her gaze, all she could see were bookshelves stretching endlessly upward.

Bookshelves here.

Bookshelves there.

Even the floor itself was formed from shelves overflowing with books.

This place—

Was the forbidden zone of the Library of Eternity.

“......This is exhausting.”

Rine muttered unconsciously.

If someone heard those words, they would probably nod without realizing it.

After all, searching for specific information among this endless sea of books looked difficult no matter who saw it.

But that was not the meaning behind her sigh.

Rine actually enjoyed reading books quite a bit, and she did not particularly struggle with finding information.

And yet despite that, there was only one reason she was sighing so deeply.

Because she knew.

“......”

Rine Grof had regained her ‘memories.’

Not all of them, perhaps, but at least the important ones.

The reason she had been able to tell Alon about Palaon earlier was because she possessed those ‘memories,’ not because she had researched it herself just now.

But ironically, that was precisely why Rine could do nothing except sigh now.

“......”

Rine Grof looked downward.

Before her floated a single book.

It was the biography of ‘Palaon’ that she had been searching for over the past several days.

Tap—

Rine silently grabbed it.

She had finally found the information Alon wanted.

And yet she felt no happiness whatsoever.

Because too much of Palaon’s biography already remained inside her ‘memories.’

“......”

And yet despite that, the reason she had deliberately avoided answering Alon directly and instead told him she would look into it—

Was possibility.

A tiny possibility.

......Perhaps, just perhaps, the future had changed.

An unbelievably irresponsible possibility.

Simply because she hated seeing Alon like that.

Because she wanted him to hold onto even the slightest bit of hope.

Because she didn’t want him to be sad.

A possibility she had foolishly come up with on impulse.

“......”

Rine silently looked at the book.

In the end, opening it would confirm Palaon’s biography.

And yet she knew.

The information that would soon begin flowing into her mind would never make Alon happy.

Through her ‘memories,’ she already knew that.

“Huu......”

'Do I really need to open this?'

That thought crossed Rine’s mind.

But only briefly.

Soon, Rine opened the book.

She no longer wanted to see Alon looking like that.

But more than that—

She did not want to lie to him.

Even if it was a gentle lie.

Because she knew that would be wrong.

Rustle—

The pages turned.

And together with them, information flowed into Rine’s mind.

“Ah.”

A low exclamation escaped her lips.

Naturally, the future had not changed.

The contents written in Palaon’s biography were identical to Rine’s memories.

Without a single difference—

Palaon’s story continued exactly the same way.

“......”

Information no different from her memories flowed into her head.

As though she were not storing information at all, but merely storing the same sequence of words again.

As though damaged letters she had failed to remember completely were simply being restored and overlaid exactly as before.

The book moved toward its end.

10 pages.

9 pages.

8 pages.

7 pages.

......As expected, nothing had changed.

5 pages.

4 pages.

3 pages.

2 pages.

The biography in her memories and the biography before her eyes—

1 page.

Were exactly the same.

Even until the final—

“......?”

—page?

“......Huh?”

Rine froze.

In her ‘memories,’ she had already been holding the final page.

And yet.

That should have been correct.

“......!”

But her hand now was not holding the final page.

‘There’s... one page left?’

Rine could feel it at her fingertips.

She could see it clearly with her own eyes.

Palaon’s biography, which should have ended at page 428—

Had become page 429.

Thump-thump—

Rine’s heart pounded.

Because she understood what it meant.

The meaning of a page existing when it should not exist.

And so, after finally turning the final page—

“Ah—”

A low exclamation escaped her lips.

Along with irrepressible joy.