Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 564: Strange Territory (2)

Several days passed after Alon and Kalannon shared their rather bizarre impressions regarding the appearance of his manifestation.

‘Maybe it’s about time I head back.’

He decided to begin preparing to return to Palantia once again.

‘There’s still work left to do here though.’

The matters in Divine Land had not yet all been completely resolved.

In the past, a few days would have been more than enough for him to receive every report he needed, but now that Divine Land had grown this massive, such a short amount of time was no longer sufficient.

Even so, the reason Alon decided to return without hesitation was because, compared to before, his time constraints had loosened considerably.

If traveling to Divine Land still took an entire day like it used to, he never would have even considered it, but now, thanks to Basiliora and Blackie, the trip only took a few hours.

And above all else—

‘It’s probably about time I started helping with the paperwork too.’

He thought he should finally begin assisting with the duties he had delegated to Nangwon.

No matter how many dozens of times faster Nangwon could process work compared to Alon, it still looked strange to leave everything to someone diligently working nonstop while Alon himself had no particularly urgent obligations.

“Oh? Are you heading back?”

And once Alon voiced that thought aloud, Sili immediately asked back.

“Yes. I’m thinking of leaving around tomorrow. The major matters have all been settled.”

Even if everything had not been fully completed, the tasks requiring immediate attention had mostly been handled, and when he explained that, Sili nodded with a small hum.

“That’s true. You already handled everything that really needed to be done personally, Lord Alon. Got it! Leave the rest to me!”

Sili nodded enthusiastically.

At that, a faint smile unknowingly formed on Alon’s face.

“You always have my thanks.”

“Please don’t say that. I’m only doing what I’m supposed to do. More importantly, are you taking Lady Penia with you too?”

“Penia...”

Alon briefly stroked his chin as he thought of her.

While he had been occupied with various matters in Divine Land, Penia had been training in magic under Kylrus.

And that was still the case now.

‘...When I spoke to her earlier, she said she was finally starting to get a proper feel for it.’

Alon recalled how Penia had spoken with visible excitement during their brief meeting.

As expected of someone whose very essence was that of a mage, despite all the difficulties involved, Penia’s eyes had still sparkled with enthusiasm.

And soon—

“For now, I plan to leave her here.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yes. It seems there’s still a great deal left for her to learn.”

As he answered while turning his gaze toward the tent where Penia was staying, Sili quietly observed him before suddenly seeming to remember something.

“By the way, Lord Alon.”

“What is it?”

“This is kind of a random question all of a sudden, but... what exactly is the relationship between you and Lady Penia?”

“...Hm?”

Alon tilted his head at Sili’s sudden question.

“What do you mean?”

“Uh— I mean exactly what I said. Umm...”

Sili cautiously glanced at him before continuing.

“It’s just... Lord Alon and Lord Evan, for example, have a clear relationship, right? Like... a noble and an escort knight.”

“...Well, yes.”

“And Lord Alon and I have the relationship of god and saintess.”

At Sili’s words, Alon nodded.

Calling it the relationship of god and saintess felt somewhat strange somehow, but it was not exactly wrong either.

“And with everyone else, there’s usually some clear connection too, right? Like being someone you sponsored, or something similar. My older brother’s the same.”

“...But you’re not sure what Penia’s relationship is?”

“Ah, yes, exactly. It’s just... at some point, the two of you started being together all the time, but? It feels kind of vague to give it a specific label.”

At those words, Alon stroked his chin.

‘My relationship with Penia...’

Certainly, their relationship had become somewhat vague and loosely defined.

Even now, though Penia traveled together with Alon, she was still officially only the vice tower master of the Blue Tower. Strictly speaking, she was not tied to Alon through any formal public relationship.

“That’s true. There is a bit of that.”

Alon nodded.

...Honestly, the fact that he was only thinking about this now was slightly absurd in itself, but Sili’s words were not wrong either.

‘...Now that I think about it, I originally just asked for help with magic research, and somehow we simply ended up staying together.’

While Alon briefly sank into thought, Sili seized the opening and spoke.

“Right? So how about using this opportunity to define the relationship more clearly?”

“...Define it?”

“Yes. Lady Penia is basically your closest confidant, after all! Wouldn’t it be better for things to be clearly defined instead of vague?”

“...Things aren’t particularly problematic even as they are now though?”

“Mmm— well, I don’t think there’s actually any problem either... but still. I just thought it might be better if the relationship itself were made more clear?”

Sili’s words.

At that, Alon considered the matter for a moment with a thoughtful expression before—

“Alright. I’ll speak with her about it.”

—he nodded.

Actually, although part of him still thought, Does it really matter when things are already fine like this?, there was one thing that had come to mind.

‘...Come to think of it, I’ve never really paid Penia a proper salary.’

Of course, it was not as though Alon had been exploiting Penia freely.

He did give her money under the pretense of allowance.

Though naturally, the amount was far beyond what anyone would normally consider allowance.

Even so, unlike Evan, they had never formally established any kind of official contract.

‘I really should talk to her properly.’

Thinking that, Alon looked toward the statue.

He had shown her many kinds of consideration until now, but when he truly thought about it, perhaps he had also failed to take proper care of her in certain ways.

‘I should treat her better.’

Without realizing it, Alon found himself thinking of Evan, who was not currently here.

For some reason, his absence felt unusually large today.

####

Immediately after hearing Contanias’s report, Arculainysis moved toward Palantia as though there was nothing else left worth hearing.

And as a result—

“Fufufu—”

Arculainysis arrived at Palantia in only a few short days.

A speed so absurd it bordered on impossible.

Of course, achieving such speed consumed an enormous amount of magic power, but Arculainysis paid it little mind.

Having already devoured the dragon hearts of countless dragons, magic power was something that overflowed endlessly within her.

Even if it temporarily ran low, it would recover almost instantly.

‘So this is Palantia—!’

Thus, after arriving above the skies of Palantia, the territory ruled by Alon, she nodded with an extremely satisfied expression.

Then she immediately began moving again.

Naturally, before coming here, she had already gathered various pieces of information through Contanias.

Or more accurately, she had gathered information on how to handle matters “legally” without damaging Alon’s mood.

‘...First I meet the human named Alexion and obtain approval casually, then afterward I meet Nangwon, right?’

Arculainysis nodded to herself with satisfaction.

The joy of seeing a friend again, combined with her completely unfounded certainty that her proposal would obviously pass, had elevated her mood considerably.

Truthfully, Arculainysis’s overwhelming confidence was not entirely unfounded.

She was the guardian dragon of the Empire.

In other words, not once had any proposal from her ever been rejected.

Even emperors routinely bowed their heads before her.

And so, while thinking of that, Arculainysis met Alexion—

“Greetings, human. This one is Arculainysis, guardian dragon of the Empire.”

“This is our first meeting, I believe. Have you come regarding a territory proposal?”

“Hmm? Ah— y-yes... I have...?”

“Do you happen to have the proposal document with you?”

“No, not exactly—”

“Ah, ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) then I would appreciate it if you filled one out here.”

“...Huh?”

—and stared blankly at the paper and pen silently placed before her.

Wait. This isn’t how this was supposed to go...?

While that thought briefly crossed her mind, Arculainysis looked toward the smiling Alexion.

“...Did you properly hear what I said?”

“Yes, I heard you clearly.”

“...I said I’m a dragon.”

“Yes, you said you’re the guardian dragon of the Empire.”

“That is correct.”

“Hahaha, His Majesty truly knows an incredible number of people.”

“???”

Watching Alexion react as though it were no particularly significant matter, Arculainysis became bewildered once again.

However, before she could say anything further—

“If you fill out the proposal document, I’ll approve it immediately.”

“Uh... ah? R-right...”

—with question marks practically floating over her head, she ended up filling out the proposal anyway.

And after a little time passed—

Thunk!

After briefly reading through the completed proposal, Alexion immediately stamped it before handing it back to her.

“Now that it’s approved, you should be able to proceed upstairs.”

“...Upstairs?”

“Yes. However, there are already several others gathered there for the same matter, so you’ll likely need to coordinate opinions somewhat with the current approver, Lord Nangwon.”

“Coordinate opinions?”

“Yes. Since everyone came to submit essentially the same proposal.”

“Hm...”

Arculainysis formed a strange expression at Alexion’s words.

But only briefly.

“Well— understood.”

She nodded.

After all, she had already expected competitors to exist.

No, more accurately, she had already received that information beforehand.

Even so, the reason Arculainysis remained calm was because of her confidence.

‘This man seems a little broken in the head, but—’

Once again, Arculainysis was the guardian dragon of the Empire.

Her very existence alone was enough to make others bow their heads submissively.

And besides, even if the “competitors” she had heard about through the information network attempted to use force against her, Arculainysis felt no fear whatsoever.

Because she was a dragon.

Thus, just as she confidently prepared to leave Alexion’s office—

“...Hm?”

—she unknowingly let out a sound like that.

Because she realized something had changed.

And the moment she recognized it—

“!”

—Arculainysis saw it.

The crimson moon outside the window.

Shiver—!

The horrifying magic power emanating from that moon.

And that was not all.

Goooooooooooooooo───────────!!

In the previously empty night sky, the figure of a gigantic god appeared.

And far away to the east, beyond where the crimson moonlight reached—

“...Huh?”

—a mountain was being lifted.

“Uhh...?”

She blinked once or twice, wondering if she had seen incorrectly, but no.

It was real.

A truly gigantic mountain was being lifted by something.

“W-what is that...?”

The mutter escaped unconsciously.

She had not been expecting an answer.

It was merely instinctive astonishment.

But—

“Ah, there’s no need to worry too much about that area.”

Hearing Alexion’s voice from behind her, Arculainysis could only become bewildered all over again.

“...No need to worry?”

Arculainysis asked.

Alexion nodded with the same smiling expression as ever.

“Hohoho— well, recently this sort of thing happens about once a day.”

“Once... a day?”

“Yes. It seems they’ve had some disagreements in opinion. I believe their construction plans differ slightly.”

“...Their opinions don’t match... so they do that?”

“Oh, this is nothing. Yesterday they picked up and threw a massive mountain over there too. Though... they did fix it afterward.”

Hearing the contents of Alexion’s explanation, Arculainysis blankly stared ahead before—

“...Heh...?”

—once again making a rather stupid sound.

...What the hell is that? That’s terrifying....

Such a simple yet powerful thought passed through her mind.