Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 565: Strange Territory (3)

Arculainysis was the guardian dragon of the Empire.

And not just any guardian dragon, but one that had devoured every dragon heart from dead dragons she could find. Quite literally the strongest dragon existing at the current point in time.

Even the ancient dragon whose presence she could sense somewhere within Palantia could not possibly dare contend against Arculainysis.

She was that strong.

And even now, at this very moment, she continued growing stronger.

Simply because of age.

Fundamentally, dragons became stronger the older they grew, and once they reached the level of an ancient dragon, their growth ended there, granting them complete and perfect strength.

However, by dragon standards, Arculainysis had only just reached adulthood.

In other words, she was already overwhelmingly strong, yet still growing stronger, while possessing the potential to become even stronger still.

And yet despite all that, Arculainysis found herself thinking something.

Even if she one day reached the level of an ancient dragon, would she even be able to participate in that battle?

“......”

She quietly shifted her gaze to the side.

There sat her extremely old friend, one she had not seen in a very long time—Magrina.

And not only that.

Next to her, Ryang-a and Historia sat lined up as well.

Nangwon was upstairs too, meaning she had effectively reunited with all her old friends here.

And yet, she had not even properly exchanged greetings with any of them.

The moment Arculainysis showed Nangwon her proposal document, Nangwon immediately acted as though it had been expected all along and told her to go downstairs first and reach a “mutual agreement” with the others.

The rest of her old friends had waved happily when she first came down for those “negotiations,” but only briefly.

Soon afterward, everyone realized they each had their own goals to accomplish and fell silent.

Reuniting after so long was important, but achieving their individual objectives mattered too.

However, that was not the real reason this place had become so quiet.

The true reason this room was silent—

“Yutia, I genuinely cannot understand why you’re trying to build another temple here when Rosario already has them everywhere, and there are temples throughout the Allied Kingdoms too.”

“I agree.”

“My, the reason is simple. Temples should exist everywhere across the nation, naturally?”

“That logic is wrong, Yutia. There’s already a temple in Palantia to begin with, isn’t there? So doesn’t that mean there’s no need for another one?”

“No, Seollang. That one is far too small.”

“Even if it’s small, a temple is still a temple. Don’t tell me you’re about to say something ridiculous like faith is proportional to temple size?”

“In Rosario, faith is measured by temple size.”

—it was because of the three women currently speaking over there.

For several days now, they had refused to yield even slightly while continuing their verbal battle—

“There’s no such thing in Rosario as far as I know?”

“She’s right. The motto is ‘equal for everyone,’ isn’t it? Surely you’re not saying we wouldn’t know that?”

“No, there definitely is.”

“There is?”

—and every time their opinions clashed, they casually began wielding forces so absurd that even Arculainysis herself could only stare blankly with her mouth hanging open.

“Yes. It was changed starting now. Temples are required to be large.”

“?”

“?”

At Yutia’s words, Seollang and Rine stared at her in disbelief.

“...That’s completely forced.”

Seollang spoke with utter disbelief.

However, Yutia still did not lose her smile.

“It’s not forced at all. That’s genuinely the rule now. Besides, temples help Teacher too, you know? Every donation gathered from Rosario believers here will all go directly to Teacher.”

“If we’re talking about money, wouldn’t a colosseum make way more? It’d help Master a ton. Way more than some temple.”

“Yutia and Seollang are both saying strange things. Wealth itself is already meaningless to Godfather at this point. Wouldn’t facilities that actually benefit the territory itself be far more helpful?”

Not yielding even an inch, the three continued fiercely arguing.

“Eh— but do facilities even matter? Wouldn’t it already be better if I’m simply here myself?”

“Mmm, I think so too.”

“By that logic, then it doesn’t matter for me either, since I myself am here. Far more meaningful than a temple or colosseum that merely earns a little money.”

“......”

“......”

Rine continued speaking with a smile.

However, Yutia and Seollang were smiling as they looked back at her as well.

Naturally though, nobody watching them believed they were truly smiling.

Because—

“Negotiations really aren’t easy, huh?”

“They really aren’t.”

“Maybe it’s because both of them are far too greedy?”

—not a trace of amusement existed in any of their eyes.

“I’m not greedy though? Isn’t it just that those two became greedy after living so long?”

Then suddenly, Seollang casually interjected.

At that, the others who had been cautiously watching the atmosphere became even more tense.

Because they knew very well how sensitive those two were to that particular topic.

“My, Seollang? How long are you planning to keep using such cheap provocations?”

Yutia responded somewhat stiffly to Seollang’s remark.

However—

“It’s not a cheap provocation.”

“......”

“It’s true.”

At Seollang’s continued words—

“!”

—Arculainysis felt it.

The crimson moon beginning to rise in the previously dark sky.

And not only that.

As though waiting for this exact moment, the giant god manifested in the distance, while Seollang revealed a savage smile of her own.

Gulp—

Arculainysis unconsciously swallowed hard.

Because she could tell.

She knew exactly what was about to happen next.

...Including the fact that even she herself would be unable to interfere.

And just as the tension reached its peak—

Snap—!

Arculainysis clearly saw the moon that had dyed the earth crimson suddenly vanish.

“?”

No, it was not only the moon.

The giant god in the distance disappeared as well.

And Seollang, who had been smiling ferociously just moments ago, suddenly began hurriedly rubbing her own head.

“??”

The situation changed far too abruptly.

And just as everyone simultaneously found question marks floating through their minds—

■■■■■■■■■-!!!

A familiar monstrous shriek echoed out.

““Ah.””

Ryang-a and Historia let out quiet sounds of realization at the same time.

And not long afterward—

Creak—

The door opened, and Alon walked in.

“...? Everyone really is gathered here...? What’s going on?”

Alon looked around with a bewildered expression.

And then—

“Master!”

“My, Teacher.”

“Godfather. You’ve arrived?”

Seeing the three immediately putting on smiling eyes and feigning innocence as though they had been waiting for him—

“Egh......”

—Arculainysis ended up making a dumbfounded noise before she could even express her happiness at seeing Alon.

####

Divine Land after Alon departed.

Inside the tent on the right side of the central area, which had now practically become territory grounds—

“Huu...”

Penia let out a small sigh.

“It’s not working...”

Penia muttered quietly, sounding dissatisfied about something.

But only briefly.

“Hm, your greed is excessive.”

At the voice heard from behind her, she naturally turned her gaze.

“...Lord Kylrus?”

“Yes. I was certain lessons had ended earlier. Though I did wonder, and apparently you really were still here instead of leaving.”

“Well— I thought it’d be better if I at least finished this much. Besides, in a few more days it’ll already be a week, and didn’t you say time was a little short?”

Seeing her awkwardly laugh, Kylrus formed a somewhat displeased expression before answering.

“I did say lesson time would decrease slightly since I promised to help remove these tents and properly construct buildings instead. But even so, there’s no reason for you to rush this much.”

Kylrus stared directly at Penia.

“Didn’t I already tell you? Even considering that you were already a ‘mage’ who had touched magic beforehand, your learning speed itself is among the best of any True Mage I’ve ever seen. There’s no need for you to hurry like this.”

Those words were sincere.

When Alon first requested the favor, Kylrus had estimated it would take several years to teach her.

And even those “several years” had already been an extremely compressed estimate, considering both the Origin she had created and her genius.

The magic of True Mages was not something easily learned.

Most spent over ten years simply reaching the stage of using magic properly, because there was that much one needed to understand.

But what about the Penia Crysinne standing before him now?

She had already been a mage, and she could technically use the magic of True Mages as well.

However, she had only been crudely interpreting phrases and forcing them into use. It was difficult to call it proper True Mage magic.

Because she had been using True Mage magic “like Alon.”

Of course, that did not mean Alon used True Mage magic incorrectly.

It was simply that Alon was someone who could use it that way.

Even if his understanding of the phrases was incomplete, he could still reproduce the magic itself exactly.

But unless one was someone like him, it was impossible to use phrases in such a manner.

No, strictly speaking, it was possible.

But only in a crude and simplistic way, by forcibly shoving inefficient calculations into place.

...Of course, it was not because Penia was foolish that she had used True Mage magic that °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° way.

No, if anything, it was closer to the opposite. She was extraordinary enough to make such usage possible.

If she had been an ordinary mage instead, simply manifesting a single phrase properly would have required an absurd amount of casting time.

In any case, the conclusion was simple.

Penia Crysinne was a genius.

Not merely “an exceptionally talented individual,” but a genuine genius unlike any Kylrus had properly witnessed before.

‘Even if she previously used magic inefficiently, it’s still been less than a week. I never imagined she would grasp the correlation laws of phrases on a principled level this quickly.’

Fundamentally, True Mages normally spent over five years understanding the correlation laws of phrases.

That’s right.

Five years.

And yet Penia Crysinne had mastered those five years of understanding in less than a single week.

As though being a mage made such things entirely irrelevant.

Meaning Penia had erased an entire year from the “several years” Kylrus originally estimated purely through her own genius.

Completely and flawlessly.

And because of that, Kylrus became even more curious about her motivation.

Why would someone with such overwhelming talent still burn with this much determination?

...No, truthfully, he already had a rough idea.

“Is it because of Alon?”

At Kylrus’s question, Penia flinched slightly before quietly nodding.

“...I don’t want to become a burden anymore.”

Penia’s answer.

A plain and simple sincerity without embellishment.

Hearing that, Kylrus said nothing further.

In some ways, Kylrus himself had experienced situations where he could understand her feelings at least a little.

“Hm...”

As the atmosphere grew somewhat heavy, Kylrus awkwardly scratched his head.

This was not the mood he had intended to create.

And so, after thinking briefly—

“Penia Crysinne.”

“Yes?”

“Do you like Alon?”

—he threw out the question in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere.

A calm question.

“Yes, y-yes... yes?!”

Naturally, the response that came back was extremely dramatic, but Kylrus merely nodded as though he had already known everything from the beginning.

“If you want, I’ll tell you something interesting.”

“...S-something interesting?”

“There’s a phrase among the magic of True Mages for things like that.”

“...Pardon?”

“Yes. For example—”

Then, grinning widely—

“—magic that lets you see someone’s affection level.”

—that was what he said.