Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 567: Strange Territory (5)

Once, it had been the capital of the Western Empire.

Now, nothing remained there anymore.

Deep within the ruins where only the shattered royal castle still stood—

“.......”

The Western Empire’s prince, Nataman—

No.

Black Eyes gazed up at the sky with an unreadable expression.

At the empty sky that held nothing at all beyond endless blue.

And after how long had he remained staring upward like that—

Tap—

A woman appeared before Black Eyes.

A woman with strange tear-shaped markings beneath her eyes.

She silently looked at Black Eyes, who remained blankly staring at the sky, before speaking.

“The mission’s completely finished.”

She said it as though casually tossing the words out.

Only then did Black Eyes react, returning to his senses as he looked ahead.

“Oh, you’re here?”

“Yes.”

“And you handled everything?”

“......You did actually hear what I said, right?”

The woman frowned slightly.

At that, Black Eyes burst into light laughter.

“Sorry— I got distracted for a bit. Still, just looking at you, it seems everything’s done? Hm— all twelve absorbed, right?”

“That’s right. I did everything exactly like you said.”

“Excellent. Though...... it seems the others still haven’t arrived yet.”

Black Eyes muttered with a faint grin.

The woman quietly watched him before speaking.

“By the way. Why did you specifically order us to eliminate all of them?”

“The Divine blood?”

“Yes. I mean, if you said you needed them to recover your power, then fine, but...... you recover it naturally with time anyway, don’t you? And once that happens, you won’t even need this power anymore.”

At her words, Black Eyes grinned broadly.

“You’re right.”

“......Then why?”

“Why do you think?”

He tossed the question back at her.

And the woman, easily seeing through his intent, answered in disbelief.

“......Because of the Star Eater?”

“Correct.”

At Black Eyes’s answer, the woman let out a hollow laugh.

“......Seriously?”

“Seriously?”

“No, I mean...... those Divine blood can’t beat the Star Eater anyway.”

What she said was true.

The Divine blood were powerful.

But no matter how powerful they were, none of them were currently strong enough to defeat the Star Eater.

Which was why she asked the question.

“Hey, Envy.”

“......What?”

“Do you know what the butterfly effect is?”

“......I know it.”

“Then I don’t need to explain.”

Black Eyes smiled faintly.

A rather eerie smile.

“It’s something like that.”

“......Something like that?”

“Those bastards get in the way of creating the perfect Alon. And—”

He muttered quietly.

“—they’d also become obstacles for the Thrones of Karma descending soon.”

Very quietly.

####

“The force restricting my emotions belongs to Monster blood?”

At Alon’s halted question after hearing those words, Reinysius paused briefly before speaking.

“Yes. At least, that is how it appears for now.”

“......What does that mean? Are you saying the force restricting my emotions might not belong to Monster blood?”

“Mmm— though I believe the probability of that is low.”

“??”

Seeing Alon’s bewildered expression at the confusing explanation, Reinysius continued.

“As I said earlier, the restriction affecting your emotions is a type of force I cannot properly comprehend. It is even capable of distorting a dragon’s intuition. And in all my life, I have only encountered one such force.”

“The power of Monster blood?”

“Yes.”

Reinysius nodded.

“As you already know, I have encountered the power of Monster blood several times before. Yet not once was I able to properly understand its principles. Just as now.”

“Which is why you believe the force restricting my emotions belongs to Monster blood.”

At Alon’s conclusion, Reinysius nodded once more.

“Yes. Throughout my entire life, the only power my interpretations have ever failed against was the power of Monster blood.”

At the ancient dragon’s words, Alon rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

‘......The power of Monster blood.......’

Alon himself did not know much about Monster blood.

Only that Yutia was called the Daughter of Monster blood.

And what the Seeker in the wasteland between the Empire and the Allied Kingdoms had once said regarding Monster blood.

Of course, he had also heard about Monster blood’s actions during the conversation between the Wanderer and Blue Eyes, but that was not particularly important in this situation.

‘The power of possibility.......’

Recalling the Seeker’s words, Alon searched through his memories to see whether there was anything else he could remember—

—but soon shook his head.

That was the limit of what he knew regarding Monster blood.

If there was any possibility of obtaining more information—

‘Yutia. And Rine.’

Of course, he had already asked Rine about Monster blood before, but had not gained much from it.

The same had happened when he asked Yutia.

‘Yutia also said she didn’t know much about Monster blood.’

However, Alon now found himself wondering whether Yutia might know more about Monster blood now.

‘Perhaps that’s why...... we ended up as lovers?’

Without realizing it, he recalled that memory again.

Yutia turning toward him atop the academy clock tower beneath the setting sun as she spoke those words.

‘......Come to think of it, there’s quite a lot I need to ask her.’

At that point, Alon suddenly realized there were many things he wanted to ask her about.

Starting with matters from the past.

And beyond that, Blue Moon as well.

Of course, he was almost certain Yutia would never properly answer questions regarding Blue Moon, so he had been planning to quietly ask the others instead......

“Huu—”

Eventually, Alon organized his thoughts with a sigh before looking back at Reinysius.

“So as things stand now, there’s no way to remove this emotional restriction.”

“Yes. We don’t even understand the principles behind how the force itself operates. However, there may still be room to infer its intent.”

“......Intent?”

“Yes. As I said, the restriction on your emotions is closer to something imposed by another person rather than by yourself. If so, then naturally there must have been intent behind it.”

“......Can you determine it?”

“Perfectly? Of course not. There are far too many variables. But a few assumptions can still be made.”

Reinysius looked directly at Alon.

“The one who placed the restriction upon you stole your emotions, yet did not take all of them away.”

“And despite possessing enough power to kill you easily, that individual did not kill you and merely imposed the restriction instead.”

“......So they are not trying to take my life.”

At Alon’s words, the ancient dragon nodded.

“Yes. At least not while that restriction remains upon you. Which means one possible conclusion is that they intended to gain something by restricting your emotions.”

“Though inferring exactly what that would be won’t be easy.”

“Yes. The only conclusion we can currently draw is that the one who imposed the restriction does not presently intend to kill you.”

Reinysius continued.

“Well, for now, I’ll continue researching the power of Monster blood further. We can at least continue obtaining samples somehow.”

“I’ll leave it to you. I’ve ended up causing more trouble than expected.”

Alon spoke apologetically.

At that, Reinysius let out a faint laugh before—

“There’s no need to think of it that way. I find this meaningful in my own way as well.”

—saying those words as though telling him not to worry.

“......Thank you.”

At that, Alon gave a small smile and nodded.

####

After finishing his private conversation with Reinysius, the first place Alon visited afterward was Nangwon’s office.

Rather than meeting the others first, he felt it was only proper to visit Nangwon, who had been handling affairs while Alon was away in Divine Land.

And so he headed toward the office.

The moment he stepped inside—

“.......”

Alon stared blankly ahead, mouth slightly open.

The scene spread before him was completely different from the office he had seen before leaving for Divine Land.

“What is this?”

The mountains of documents were gone.

“Ah, Brother. You’ve returned?”

As Alon muttered blankly, Nangwon, leisurely processing the few remaining documents atop the desk, greeted him with a bright smile.

“Yes, but...... the paperwork......”

Alon asked directly, unable to believe it.

At that, Nangwon smiled as though telling him not to worry.

“I handled all of it.”

“......All of it? That enormous amount?”

“Yes. Though I left aside some of the more important matters for additional confirmation, most of it has already been completed.”

Although Nangwon possessed the appearance of something closer to a demon than an angel because of the Reverse Heavens, Alon somehow felt as though radiant light was shining behind him.

“Ah, right— actually, there was something I needed to tell you, Lord Alon—”

Just as Nangwon began speaking as though the timing was perfect—

“Y-Your Majesty! A-are you inside?!”

Alexion’s urgent voice rang out.

Nangwon lightly lowered his head as though telling Alon to handle that first.

After briefly expressing his gratitude, Alon turned his gaze away.

“I’m inside. What is it?”

Before Alon had even fully finished speaking, Alexion hurriedly threw open the office door and rushed in with a bewildered expression.

“Th-there’s been...... a bit of an incident.”

“......An incident?”

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

“Th-that’s...... rather difficult to explain. I think it would be best if you saw it personally.”

Cold sweat dripped down Alexion’s face.

Though puzzled, Alon nodded.

“I’ll handle it quickly and return.”

“Understood, Brother.”

Receiving Nangwon’s farewell, Alon followed after Alexion.

Eventually, he arrived at the reception room together with him.

And the sight spread before his eyes—

“......They appear to have become roughly twelve years younger.”

“Eh— looks that way.”

“......What exactly happened here?”

Rine, Seollang, and Magrina calmly analyzing the situation despite now appearing as children.

And—

“Waaahhh—! W-what is this!? Where even is this place!?”

“E......?”

Arculainysis and Historia, whose outward appearances remained adult, but who looked around anxiously as though they completely failed to understand the situation.

And then—

“Alon! Where were you!?”

Someone rushed straight toward him and naturally grabbed his hand tightly while speaking in a completely different tone than usual—

“Yu......tia?”

—it was Yutia.

Now strangely tsundere-like.

......Alon was so shocked he completely lost the ability to speak.