Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 566: Strange Territory (4)

Right after hearing Kylrus’s words—

Penia blanked out for a moment before quickly coming back to herself and shaking her head once.

“No— I mean, how would Lord Kylrus even know whether I like Alon or not......?”

“Do you not?”

“It’s possible I don’t?”

“So, do you not?”

At Kylrus’s question, Penia quietly turned her gaze aside.

Seeing her display the exact same reaction he had witnessed countless times from certain rational beings, Kylrus let out a faint chuckle.

“So it’s true. Did you really think no one would notice after making it that obvious?”

“It wasn’t that obvious though.......”

Penia muttered quietly.

To be fair, what she said was true to some extent.

Penia herself had never directly revealed her feelings for Alon outwardly that often.

Had she not......?

......No, she hadn’t.

Probably.

“What do you mean not that obvious? Anyone who watched you and Alon for even a little while could figure it out immediately.”

“......For something supposedly that obvious, Lord Alon himself doesn’t seem to know.”

Penia answered somewhat sulkily.

However, Kylrus simply stroked his chin lightly.

“That’s because the boy seems unable to properly feel emotions. No, more accurately, perhaps it would be better to say they’re blocked.”

“Blocked......?”

Confusion spread across Penia’s face.

Of course, she had also noticed there was something a little strange about Alon.

Through the intuition built from spending such a long time together, she had sensed it for a while now. Normally, his emotions were rarely expressed outwardly in any direct way.

Even though he clearly did feel them.

Still, Penia had always assumed it was simply an innate issue, which was why she looked startled as she questioned him.

Kylrus thought for a moment before continuing.

“Well, nothing is certain yet.”

“......What does that mean?”

“I only started investigating recently. At Alon’s request, actually.”

“At Lord Alon’s......?”

“Yes.”

Kylrus nodded.

“To be precise, the request itself was somewhat different. More exactly, he asked me about magic related to emotions. After I asked why and heard the circumstances, I looked into it again and—”

“......there was something strange?”

“Yes, exactly.”

Then, briefly recalling Alon, Kylrus lifted his gaze slightly and muttered,

“The problem is that the thing itself feels extremely alien.”

“......What do you mean?”

“To put it more clearly, words like ‘abnormal’ or ‘bizarre’ suit it better.”

“Why?”

“Because I couldn’t find the cause.”

Eventually, he looked directly into Penia’s eyes.

“Personally, I think trying to explain absolutely everything through magic is foolish, but to make it easier to understand. Fundamentally, every form of magic has a cause and a result, doesn’t it?”

“......Right.”

“Whether magic is used properly or improperly, there must still be both a ‘cause’ and a ‘result.’ For example, there should be a cause such as ‘the magical formula was implemented perfectly,’ and a conclusion such as ‘the magic was successfully used.’ But in Alon’s case, regarding his emotions, the feeling was somewhat different.”

He paused briefly before speaking calmly.

“At least from what I could determine, there is no cause behind the problem with his emotions.”

“......No cause?”

“Yes. There is definitely some kind of processing being done to his emotions. In other words, I can faintly perceive this ‘result.’”

Kylrus muttered that even this much only became visible because someone at his own level deliberately began investigating the issue in earnest before continuing.

“But strangely enough, the cause itself cannot be seen. More precisely, I cannot determine what method caused Alon’s emotions to become like that.”

“Couldn’t you trace it back—”

“Of course I considered it. But I couldn’t.”

“Why......?”

“As I said, from my perspective there’s only a ‘result.’”

Kylrus scratched his head as though he had a headache.

“Perhaps I simply failed to find it. But in Alon’s emotions, I couldn’t see any proper ‘cause’ for why he became this way. Which means...... clearly something must have altered him through some kind of process, yet somehow his current state appears as though it were perfectly ‘normal.’”

Because there was no cause.

After adding that once more, Kylrus pondered something for a moment before speaking again.

“Well, in the end, since I was able to sense an ‘abnormality,’ there’s still room to investigate further. I’ve already asked Reinysius to look into it as well, so perhaps that fellow has already noticed something by now. In matters like this, he’s several times smarter than I am.”

Then after reaching that point—

“Ah.”

—he suddenly let out a small exclamation.

“I hadn’t intended to say this much. I ended up talking too long. In any case, don’t worry about it. Reinysius will probably discover something eventually, and then we can think about it again.”

“......I suppose so.”

“More importantly, that wasn’t what I originally wanted to discuss.”

“Ah.”

This time Penia was the one who let out a quiet sound of realization.

He was right.

This was not what they had originally been talking about at all.

“Um...... but is there still something else connected to that?”

Forcing herself to set aside her thoughts about Alon, Penia asked curiously.

Seeing her tilt her head slightly, Kylrus grinned.

“Would you like some help?”

“......Pardon?”

“I mean, have you never considered turning your one-sided feelings into something mutual?”

“W-wha— suddenly?!”

Penia looked utterly bewildered.

“What do you mean suddenly? Weren’t we already talking about this from the beginning?”

“No— I mean...... you’re not wrong, but why would you specifically want to help me......?”

‘No, more importantly, are you even capable of helping with something like this......?’ Penia wondered inwardly, before suddenly recalling Kylrus’s original appearance.

......Hm.

Maybe receiving help really wouldn’t be such a bad idea.

As Penia fell silent in thought for a moment—

“There are several reasons, but honestly it’s mostly because of personal curiosity.”

“What kind of curiosity......?”

“I’ll tell you later. Anyway— would you like to accept my help?”

Kylrus offered once again.

And Penia—

“.......”

—quietly nodded.

####

Right now, Alon was rather surprised.

There were two reasons for that.

First, while Alon had been away in Divine Land, the others had apparently already arrived in Palantia.

And second, Arculainysis, whom he should have met earlier back in the Empire, was now here in Palantia as well.

Moreover—

“Y-you’ve returned, my liege—”

“......?”

—for some reason, she looked as though she had lost a bit of confidence.

Still, Alon only wondered briefly before speaking to the others first.

“Sorry, everyone, even though you all gathered here like this, there’s somewhere I need to stop by first. Let’s discuss everything properly a little later.”

“Understood, Teacher.”

“Welcome back, Benefactor!”

Because there was somewhere he needed to visit first.

“Alexion.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Among the items I brought back, distribute the potion on the right.”

“Yes, understood.”

After separately issuing orders to Alexion, who for some reason looked even more exhausted than usual, and handing over the regeneration potions for the others—

Alon headed off to meet Reinysius.

Some time later, after arriving before the ancient dragon—

“You’ve come?”

“Yes.”

—Alon found Reinysius deep in serious thought.

“......You told me to come, so I headed here immediately after arriving. Have you already discovered something?”

The moment he entered the second office where Reinysius was staying, Alon exchanged a brief greeting before immediately getting to the point.

In truth, the reason he had come here directly without even speaking properly to the others after returning to Palantia was because Reinysius had separately contacted him.

A message saying he believed he had found something regarding Alon’s emotional issue.

“Saying ‘already’ is not entirely accurate.”

“......Is that so?”

“Yes. Even before hearing about it from Kylrus, I had already recognized that there was an ‘abnormality’ in your emotions.”

“......You already knew?”

“Yes. I simply believed it was a natural disposition rather than something abnormal.”

“Could you explain?”

Reinysius gave a light nod.

“It’s not a particularly difficult matter. The world is vast, after all. Someone like you could simply exist naturally.”

“So you thought I was merely a somewhat unusual person?”

“Yes. Though after hearing Kylrus’s explanation and examining things more carefully, that no longer seems to be the case. There was something strange even in that itself.”

“......Something strange?”

At Alon’s question, Reinysius elaborated.

“To explain simply, before I recognized your condition as a problem, there was already a sense of incongruity in merely thinking of it that way.”

“......?”

For a brief moment, confusion crossed Alon’s face.

But only briefly.

“!”

Soon, Alon realized what the ancient dragon meant, and his eyes widened.

“So what you’re saying is... there’s a cognitive alteration affecting my emotions?”

“Yes.”

Reinysius nodded.

“Fundamentally, a dragon’s intuition sees through all things. And yet even I dismissed the incongruity in your emotions as something insignificant. At least until you yourself seriously brought it up as a problem. Which means—”

“......The reason my emotions became like this isn’t my own issue, but something intentionally done by an outside party?”

“Yes. Someone capable of ensuring that neither you nor anyone else would feel a proper sense of suspicion—”

Reinysius looked at Alon with a grave expression.

“—someone capable of twisting even a dragon’s intuition.”

His voice sank heavily.

Alon quietly touched his own face before asking,

“......Can this be undone?”

“Perhaps later, but right now it’s impossible. No— more accurately, even later there’s a high probability it will remain impossible.”

Reinysius answered immediately.

“Why?”

At Alon’s question, Reinysius gave an extremely simple answer.

“Because the restriction on your emotions was not created through ‘magic.’”

“......? What?”

“You heard me correctly.”

“Then... can you identify what kind of power this is?”

Another question followed.

And Reinysius—

“There’s hardly anything to identify. It’s already a power we know well.”

“......A familiar power?”

“Yes.”

He nodded.

“Monster blood.”

“......What?”

“The force restricting your emotions belongs to Monster blood.”

And calmly—

Reinysius spoke the truth aloud.