Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 559: Identity (2)

At the words spoken by the kneeling woman, Alon blanked out for a moment.

Because the title he had just heard sounded completely out of nowhere to him.

‘Blue Moon......?’

Blue Moon.

For some reason, Alon felt that the name sounded familiar.

Not overwhelmingly so, but rather like something he had heard once somewhere before.

That kind of feeling.

So while Alon tilted his head in confusion for a brief moment—

He soon looked forward again.

The woman standing before him was making a similarly confused expression herself.

‘Huh? Wait, what? Was I wrong?’ was practically written all over her face.

Then—

“Uh— well, that is.......”

The woman who had introduced herself as Yuna carefully opened her mouth.

“Um— the...... Great Moon.......”

“......Moon?”

“......Sir?”

“......Sir??”

“......Aren’t you?”

“......”

Perhaps because she instinctively realized something was wrong from his reaction, Yuna’s voice rose uncertainly at the end.

Alon did not actually say, What is that supposed to mean......?

But the incomprehensible words made his thoughts race.

“......”

“......”

Silence began.

The two merely stared at each other’s eyes, both busy trying to figure out what exactly this situation was.

And after they awkwardly stared at each other for a while—

“Ah— ahhhh.......”

A low exclamation suddenly escaped Yuna’s mouth.

“I-I made a mistake. Ah...... yes, yes.”

She hurriedly tried to smooth things over incoherently.

“Wait—”

Alon attempted to question Yuna, but—

“I-I’ve completed my mission, so I’ll be leaving now—!”

As though she had already sensed what was about to happen, Yuna instantly lowered her head deeply and disappeared at the speed of light before anyone could stop her.

“......What was that?”

Soon, Alon stared at the empty space where she had vanished.

‘What in the world was that about......?’

He could only make a bewildered expression.

####

The next day.

Alon officially began working again.

Of course, there had been a double, but the tasks the double could handle were only very minor ones. Everything else had remained untouched.

“......Ha.”

As soon as Alon returned to the office, what greeted him was truly an overwhelming festival of paperwork.

“This is absurd.”

“I think so too.......”

As Alon muttered hollowly, Penia beside him weakly nodded.

[Kyuu?????]

[Move this junk!]

Even Blackie, who normally showed no reaction no matter how high the paperwork piled up, twisted its head nearly 270 degrees upon discovering its designated seat buried beneath documents, while Basiliora looked equally dumbfounded.

“It feels like there’s much more than last time.”

“It’s not your imagination, Lord Alon. Last time it was only about half this much.......”

“......Why has it increased so much?”

Alon muttered while clearing off Blackie’s seat at its request.

Penia answered as though the reason was obvious.

“......I think it’s because the territory expanded.”

“The territory expanded......?”

“Yes. As you know, the main castle is enormous now.......”

At Penia’s words, Alon nodded.

She was right.

The main castle truly was absurdly massive.

One of the eight districts dividing Alon’s territory alone was enough to contain the entire castle grounds.

“That’s true, but— does that really have anything to do with this?”

“Yes. We already finished all the work related to the castle itself last time, but we never handled the paperwork related to the districts.”

“Development has already started?”

Alon looked bewildered.

Naturally, aside from one district among the eight, all the others were still completely empty, so from a broader perspective it was a rather strange situation.

Even so, he had not expected district development to begin this quickly.

Currently, aside from the original commercial district, Palantia’s territory contained practically nothing.

Which meant that if anyone wanted to build anything in those empty areas, the lord first had to spend money laying at least some sort of foundation.

For example, reclaiming land.

Or even building roads first.

In other words, unless the lord did something, most people wishing to move into the district would essentially be charging headfirst into empty wilderness.

So when Alon questioned why development had started so quickly—

“To be exact, development itself hasn’t started yet. These are all proposals.”

“Proposals?”

“Yes. Proposals asking for permission to develop the territory.”

“......All of these?”

“Maybe not all of them, but probably over half. After all, you hadn’t granted permission yet, Lord Alon.”

“......But why?”

As Alon tilted his head in genuine confusion, Penia answered.

“There are probably several reasons, but above all, Palantia is currently the safest place in the Allied Kingdoms.”

“......”

Alon could not deny her words.

Realistically speaking, perhaps not entirely.

But from an outside perspective, Palantia was indeed an extremely safe place.

“To be honest, it’s a good thing.”

Penia spoke.

Alon nodded.

He also knew this was a good thing.

People were willing to develop the land and divide the districts themselves without him even spending money. There was no reason to dislike that.

And that wasn’t all.

After meeting Reinysius yesterday, both Alon and Penia had become noticeably more at ease.

According to Reinysius, even if it took time—

Evan would return eventually.

But even so—

“This is still way too much.”

“......I think this is going to take at least three months.”

—this was excessive.

“......I suppose it’s about time we started hiring people.”

“If you mean hiring......?”

“There’s no way the two of us can process all these documents ourselves.”

Alon keenly realized that now was finally the time to employ staff.

“Though until we find people, we’ll still have no choice but to continue working.”

“......True. I miss Evan.”

“So do I.”

“So do I.”

Thinking simultaneously that three people would at least reduce the workload to a third—

Alon and Penia soon sat down.

Because it was time to seriously begin working.

####

A week passed after Alon and Penia began properly handling the territory’s affairs.

One week.

Long, if considered one way.

Short, if considered another.

However—

“......Lord Alon?”

“Yes?”

“Yes?”

“Something’s strange.”

“What is?”

“Yesterday there was a pile of paperwork this big next to my desk.”

“And?”

“I definitely cleared all of it yesterday.”

“And?”

“But somehow there’s even more today.”

“......”

“And even more than earlier.......”

Penia blankly stared toward the endless pile of documents.

......Just a few days ago, there had still been life in her eyes.

Now that life was gone.

“......”

Honestly, it was understandable.

Unlike before, this time the amount of paperwork truly did not decrease, just as Penia had said.

In fact, the more they processed, the more appeared.

‘......Now that we officially started approving things, everyone’s submitting proposals at once.’

Alon recalled Alexion’s earlier words and sighed.

‘There’s too much I need to do.’

He needed to visit ruined Shtalion and meet the Divine blood there.

And above all, he also had to investigate the Supernatural Catastrophe.

‘Though I did already ask someone to look into the Supernatural Catastrophe.’

Alon continued thinking while brushing the now-empty spot at his waist where the belt obtained from the Supernatural Catastrophe had once hung.

‘But the most important thing is visiting Divine Land.’

He needed to inspect the divine power system Reinysius had created through Blackie.

In one sense or another, Divine Land functioned as a defensive system Alon had established in preparation for the Divine blood.

‘Though what exactly was that reaction about......?’

Suddenly, Alon thought back to the conversation he had shared with Reinysius two days earlier.

‘......Honestly, rather than me explaining it, I think it’d be better if you went and saw it yourself.’

‘Is there some kind of problem?’

‘There’s no problem. The system itself is functioning properly.’

‘Then why are you speaking like that?’

‘......You’ll understand once you see it yourself.’

Alon recalled the rare strange expression Reinysius had made despite his usual expressionless face.

‘Come to think of it, he also said he didn’t want to come with me.’

Alon remembered how Reinysius had refused with an oddly uncomfortable expression when Alon suggested they go together.

Then, while writing documents, Alon suddenly stopped and opened his mouth.

“Penia.”

“Yes, Lord Alon.......”

“Let’s stop for now.”

“What are you planning to do.......?”

“I don’t think the two of us can handle this alone. We’ll have to recruit someone.”

“Someone?”

“Yes. Someone suited for this kind of work.”

“......Reinysius would honestly be perfect for it—”

At Penia’s words, Alon quietly agreed.

Certainly, if Reinysius—who could easily stay awake for hundreds of days without sleep—helped with paperwork, things would become incredibly convenient.

......In fact, several days ago, Alon had attempted to ask Reinysius for help with exactly this.

But it had failed.

Because of Reinysius’s complete lack of common sense and judgment.

‘Reinysius?’

‘What is it?’

‘Why did you approve this large merchant guild development permit? They requested permission to develop an area five times larger than the others.’

‘......Well, if they’re making it bigger, isn’t that a good thing?’

‘Did you miss the part about exempting transportation taxes for eighty years?’

‘Eighty years is hardly that long.......’

‘?’

At that moment, hearing Reinysius casually treat an eighty-year contract—essentially a half-lifetime agreement—as insignificant passing time, Alon had understood everything.

“That’s impossible for a reason.......”

“Exactly.......”

As Alon muttered and Penia nodded in agreement—

Right when Alon was wondering how to solve this issue—

“Ah.”

Penia, who until moments ago had looked completely dead inside, suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Lord Alon, I looked into that thing you mentioned before.”

“......That thing?”

“Yes. Blue Moon.”

At that, Alon let out a quiet “Ah,” and Penia continued.

“After looking into it, it seems they were once a fairly famous organization.”

“Hm?”

“They were apparently famous for assassinating corrupt nobles. I don’t know the details, but it seems they followed someone called the Great Moon.”

“Ah—”

At Penia’s words, Alon let out another quiet exclamation.

He had not remembered it before, but hearing it now suddenly brought it back to him.

‘Evan definitely mentioned them before.’

Blue Moon.

The organization that went around wiping out underworld groups.

They even killed nobles without hesitation, and though Alon had once found that frightening, he had dismissed it because such a name had never appeared in the original story.

Recalling that memory, Alon thought—

‘......She definitely called me the Great Moon.’

He remembered the woman who had appeared before.

The very person Deus had personally brought, confidently claiming she would perform his role as a double perfectly.

“Hm......”

Alon recalled the woman’s reaction.

Like someone malfunctioning, yet at the same time utterly unable to understand the situation.

After thinking for a while—

‘She must’ve mistaken me for someone else.’

That was the conclusion Alon reached.

No matter how much he thought about it, he had no memory whatsoever of operating something called Blue Moon.

No—

He had never operated anything remotely similar.

Back then, Alon had been too busy desperately surviving while avoiding the first and second sons.

The only thing he had ever “operated” was the orphanage Yutia managed.

And even that, later on—

“......Hm?”

Alon unknowingly let out a sound.

Penia looked at him curiously.

But without answering her, Alon recalled a memory with Evan.

‘Evan, did another sponsorship come in again?’

‘Yes. That’s what I heard.’

‘The sponsorships are suddenly increasing quite a lot.’

‘Seriously. There must be more kind nobles in the world than I expected. Though it doesn’t seem like good deeds get rewarded.’

‘Why?’

‘I heard Baron Mamoni donated to the orphanage, but was assassinated shortly afterward.’

‘By whom?’

‘You know, that Blue Moon group that’s been killing nobles lately.’

‘......Evan.’

‘Yes?’

‘Move your room right next to mine for about a month.......’

A conversation he had once treated as nothing important.

“......Huh?”

......No way.

Could it be—

Was it actually me?