Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 561: Identity (4)

When Alon first looked down at Divine Land while riding Basiliora, he had been genuinely shocked.

Because the sight before him was completely different from what he had expected.

Even during his last visit, it had already changed considerably compared to before, but objectively speaking, aside from the enormous barracks and the massive statue standing off to one side, it had still strongly felt like a village.

But Divine Land now?

‘......This is basically a territory at this point.’

‘I agree.’

It had changed so drastically that even Penia said that.

Massive thick walls that had not existed before had been constructed, and inside them, residential districts far larger than before had spread extensively.

And that wasn’t all.

Perhaps because land had become insufficient, there were even signs that the territory had expanded all the way to the cliff Alon often used to overlook Divine Land from.

And above all—

‘......There are a lot more temples now.’

‘There are.’

The number of temples had increased tremendously.

To the point that it almost rivaled the number he had seen in Rosario.

That did not mean Divine Land itself had become as massive as Rosario, but the small territory was packed so densely with temples that Alon briefly thought there might actually be more here than in Rosario.......

That it had changed this much in barely over half a year—

Alon thought that was the most astonishing thing of all.

Yes, definitely—

“Is it really Kylrus?”

“Do I look like someone else?”

“......Seriously?”

—at least until he saw Kylrus turned into a woman.

“Why do you keep asking? You should be able to tell just by looking.”

At Kylrus’s repeated answer, sounding thoroughly exasperated—

No, at the woman standing before him—

Alon felt slightly confused.

No.

Not slightly confused.

It wasn’t only Alon either.

“???”

Penia was wearing the exact same dumbfounded expression.

......Meanwhile, the person responsible for shocking them both, Kylrus, looked completely unaffected.

Letting out a sigh, Alon spoke to Kylrus while still visibly bewildered.

“......What exactly is going on here?”

A question carrying many meanings.

However, Kylrus merely tilted her head as though she did not understand the question at all.

“As you can see, I became a woman.”

“.......”

That’s not what I was asking.......

Alon stared at Kylrus with precisely that expression.

But only for a moment.

“Lord Alon!”

Soon, Alon spotted Sili running toward him alongside the knights.

“Sili. Have you been well?”

“Yes! I’ve been doing well!”

“That’s good to hear.”

After exchanging brief greetings with Sili, Alon also waved once each toward Historia and Ryang-a behind her before turning back toward Kylrus again.

“Sili, just in case, do you happen to know what exactly happened here?”

Alon subtly pointed toward Kylrus as he asked.

Sili turned her gaze toward Kylrus, then let out an “Ah!”

“Yes! I’ll explain right away! Actually, that’s one of the things I needed to explain to you anyway, Lord Alon!”

“......Something that needs to be explained to me?”

“Yes! Strictly speaking, that’s also part of Divine Land’s power!”

“......Divine Land’s power?”

......For some reason, Alon suddenly had a very bad feeling about this.

But whether Sili noticed or not—

“First, come inside! I’ll give you a full report right away!”

—with a bright smile, she pulled Alon along and started leading everyone inside.

And carrying countless questions, Alon’s group followed Sili deeper into Divine Land.

####

Inside Divine Land.

After greeting Sili, who for some reason already seemed to know about Evan’s absence and therefore said nothing about it—

Alon listened to her report covering the past half year inside a place that still remained in tent form despite everything else developing rapidly around it.

And overall, the contents of the report were not bad at all.

“So—you’re saying the system functioned even better than expected?”

“Yes, exactly! Blackie’s been doing an amazing job! Though of course, there still aren’t that many people capable of properly using the power yet.”

[Kyuu?]

At those words, Blackie—who had been tapping at Kalannon’s cat-shaped head moments earlier—tilted its head toward Sili.

Even while gripping Kalannon’s head tightly with another paw as though refusing to let go.

Alon remained silent for a while as he organized everything he had heard from Sili before finally speaking.

“You worked hard, Sili.”

“Hm?”

“Blackie certainly helped, but ultimately, the reason things reached this stage is because you moved things forward.”

Half a year.

Long, in one sense.

But if one considered it the amount of time needed to establish an entirely new system, then it was far from generous.

‘To begin with, this wasn’t the kind of structure that would simply function just because the system existed.’

The system Alon had created was not bad.

However, naturally, simply creating it did not mean it would automatically operate.

Because the system required faith.

The genuine belief that one could borrow Alon’s power and use it.

Of course, Yuman had already received a blessing from Alon, so Alon had assumed that would make things somewhat easier for Sili.

But that only meant it was easier to begin.

Yuman had already entered the process of wielding divine power through blessing.

To properly spread such a structure among people in this short amount of time—

Even if the people of Divine Land trusted Alon deeply—

Ordinarily, it should have taken quite a long time.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect it to progress this quickly.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yes. Faith isn’t exactly simple.”

At Alon’s words, Sili let out an “Ah,” as though she understood what he meant, before smiling slightly.

“There definitely were some difficulties in that area—but overall, it worked out pretty well.”

“It worked out?”

“Yes. Honestly speaking, a huge number of new people were arriving around that time, so it actually made things easier to push forward.”

“......Really?”

Sili nodded repeatedly while continuing.

“I mean, what’s necessary in the end is the believers’ faith, right? More specifically, the belief that it’s possible.”

“......That’s true.”

“So in situations like this, it actually becomes easier.”

“That’s...... possible?”

Penia tilted her head.

But Sili simply smiled and nodded.

“Of course. You just have to create the right kind of story.”

“......A story?”

“Yes. For example, a young boy or girl who just entered Divine Land and possesses incredibly deep faith in Lord Alon awakening power solely through strong belief.”

Something like that.

As Sili explained with a smile, Alon and Penia both let out low exclamations at the same time.

She had not elaborated further, but it was not difficult to understand roughly how she had guided the situation.

And so, while seriously contemplating what exactly this strange talent of hers should even be called, Alon and Penia stared at Sili.

“Why are you both looking at me like that?”

“......It’s nothing.”

After briefly shaking his head at Sili’s question, Alon turned back toward Kylrus.

“I understand the structure itself is functioning properly now—but what exactly happened to that?”

He asked because he genuinely could not find any connection between the system operating successfully and Kylrus becoming a woman.

At that, Sili let out an “Ah,” organized her thoughts briefly, and then spoke.

“Well...... depending on how I explain it, this could either take a long time or a short time. Which would you prefer?”

“I’d like to hear the short version first.”

At Alon’s words, Sili thought for a moment before answering.

“To summarize briefly, someone awakened the ability of feminization.”

“......What?”

“Huh?”

The statement was so absurd that Alon instinctively asked again before immediately continuing.

“......My apologies. Please explain in a way I can understand.”

“Yes.”

Answering energetically, Sili resumed her explanation.

The story continued for around ten minutes.

“......So among those without proper combat abilities, there are people whose powers emerged from fanatic faith?”

“Yes. And most of those people gained ordinary abilities rather than combat-related ones.”

“......Those are not ordinary abilities.”

“Mmm— but they’re not combat abilities?”

“That’s true, but......”

Turning men into women...... in other words, TS abilities did not exactly seem ordinary......

As Alon thought that—

“Additionally, there are people who can use feminization abilities, people who can temporarily alter physical age, and conversely, people who can alter mental age as well.”

“.......”

“Ah—and although limited, there’s even someone capable of swapping people’s bodies—”

“I understand the general idea. So basically, people capable of using those kinds of abilities appeared?”

“Yes. They’re not permanent though. Usually the effects only last between one and two days.”

At Sili’s continued explanation, Alon wore the subtle expression of someone suddenly questioning reality.

As far as he knew, powers derived from this structure were ultimately shaped by the user’s imagination, but fundamentally, the believers themselves needed to believe that Alon possessed such power.

Which meant that the existence of those abilities implied the believers unconsciously thought Alon himself possessed those powers.

‘......Just what kind of image do they have of me?’

After staring blankly for a moment, Alon regained focus and asked the question still bothering him.

“So now I understand how someone could become a woman. But Kylrus, why did you become one?”

At Alon’s question, Kylrus crossed her arms with a smile, looking pleased by the question.

For some reason, she seemed far more emotionally expressive than when she had been male.

Though from Alon’s perspective, knowing the original, he felt absolutely nothing about it.

“It’s for magical research.”

“......Magical research?”

“Yes. The Imagery I inherited belonged to my master. And my master was a woman.”

“What does that have to do with you becoming a woman?”

“Have you forgotten? For us True Mages, ‘Imagery’ is important.”

“......Don’t tell me you did this to better understand the Imagery itself?”

“Correct. In the end, there are inevitably differences caused by gender when it comes to Imagery.”

Kylrus nodded as though pleased there was no need for a lengthy explanation.

Then she immediately looked dissatisfied.

“As expected, you’re easy to explain things to. Reinysius was rather noisy about it.”

“Noisy......?”

“Yes. He practically lost his mind. I found it absurd that his face even turned red as though he were angry.”

Kylrus puffed out her cheeks with an annoyed expression as though wondering what the big deal was.

“.......”

“.......”

Alon and Penia both recalled their earlier conversation with Reinysius.

The strange emotion visible on his face while he reacted in horror at the mention of Kylrus.

“.......”

“......Eugh.”

The absurd sound that escaped Penia’s mouth perfectly reflected Alon’s feelings.

And around that same time—

In the elven nation of Fildagreen—

“......Hmm. Nangwon is handling my brother’s territorial affairs?”

“Yes. That appears to be the case. And apparently he was even granted a certain degree of autonomy—”

Magrina, who had been preparing something for Alon, was listening to that report from an informant.

And then—

“Autonomy, hm—”

Magrina’s eyes gleamed.

And it was not only her.

“......Hm? You’re saying I can build something in my benefactor’s territory?”

“Yes.”

“Mmm— ......Mm...... hm? Then if I build a colosseum there...... does that mean I can just keep staying there?”

Within only a few short hours—

The words exchanged within Alon’s territory rapidly began spreading everywhere.