Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 568: Strange Territory (6)

Even after Alon had left, Divine Land remained lively.

“♪-♬”

Sili hummed leisurely as she moved between the collapsed tents—

—or more precisely, the tents currently being dismantled.

“Saintess Sili, the eastern district is completely finished.”

“Mhm— good.”

Nodding in satisfaction at the voice reaching her as she walked, she soon smiled and said,

“Then please take care of the remaining districts as well.”

“Yes! We’ll finish everything within two days.”

The knight answered energetically before immediately getting back to work.

Watching him with a satisfied expression, Sili turned her gaze toward the wide empty lot slowly revealing itself as the tents disappeared.

The thoughts she had been pondering since yesterday continued inside her mind.

‘What kind of temple should I build?’

The reason Sili had removed the tents that had existed since Divine Land was first created—

was because permission had finally been granted by Alon.

Permission to remove the tents and construct a temple now.

Which was why, the moment Alon left, Sili began dismantling the tents while planning the temple’s construction—

only to soon fall into deep thought.

Because she could not decide exactly ‘what kind of temple’ should be built.

“Mmm—”

Honestly, if the goal had simply been to build something huge and magnificent, there would have been no reason to worry this much.

She could simply reference the experimental temples already built throughout Divine Land.

But naturally, Sili had no intention of building the temple so carelessly.

......Though calling something “careless” when it involved constructing a massive temple was contradictory to begin with.

In any case, simply making it large and flashy like Alon’s other temples was not enough, which only deepened her concerns.

‘It would be nice if it could properly convey Lord Alon’s greatness.......’

Right then—

“......Saintess.”

A voice came from behind her.

“Ah, Yuman.”

At some point, Yuman had arrived behind Sili.

“This is perfect timing.”

“Did you need something from me......?”

“No, it’s just that we’re planning to build Lord Alon’s temple now, but there’s something I’ve been struggling over.”

“......Something troubling you?”

“Yes. We can’t simply build Lord Alon’s temple as some ordinary grand structure, can we?”

At Sili’s question, Yuman answered as though it were obvious.

“I agree completely.”

“That’s why I’m troubled. We have to build it, but I’m unsure how it should be done....... So I wanted to ask whether you might have any ideas.”

Understanding what she meant, Yuman seemed to think briefly before speaking.

“Would it perhaps be better to gather opinions from everyone?”

“......Opinions?”

“Yes. Nothing comes to mind for me immediately either, but perhaps if we gather everyone’s ideas, something good may emerge among them.”

Sili nodded slowly with an “Mmm—”

“Sounds good. Shall we try that?”

“Yes. We’ll probably gather opinions quickly within a day or two.”

“We should call Alexion over separately too and ask for his opinion. He may be able to help with the more practical aspects.”

“That also sounds wise.”

Yuman nodded in agreement.

And just as Sili smiled in satisfaction—

“Ah.”

She let out a low exclamation as though suddenly remembering something.

“Come to think of it, what did you come looking for me about?”

“Ah.”

Only then did Yuman remember the original reason he had come.

“Ahem— it’s nothing serious, but while dismantling the tents, we found some items.”

“Items?”

“Yes. Quite a few elixirs were found over there.”

“......Hm? There shouldn’t have been any elixirs in that tent though?”

“Yes, which is why it seemed strange, so I brought them here—”

Yuman soon took out the elixirs he had brought from inside the tent.

And after briefly sensing something odd about them, Sili—

“Ah.”

—immediately realized what they were.

“......These are the elixirs that were supposed to be delivered to Lord Alon.”

“Are they?”

“Huh......? But......?”

Sili tilted her head.

Because she had definitely seen it herself when Alon left.

He had carried two boxes of elixirs with him.

‘What is this......?’

While feeling puzzled, Sili belatedly realized one very clear fact.

For some reason, a mistake had occurred somewhere.

“Oops—”

Apparently one of the knights moving the luggage had misunderstood the instructions.

Instead of moving the supplies inside the tent, they must have brought the ones from the warehouse—

—or so Sili guessed.

‘......Since the Regeneration Elixirs are the ones left behind, it looks like they got swapped with the other elixirs somehow. I suppose we’ll have to deliver them separately later.’

She soon shrugged lightly to herself.

......Completely unaware of what was happening because of it now.

####

Meanwhile, at that same moment.

“.......”

Alon sat in the reception room blankly staring ahead.

The first thing visible before him was Seollang, Rine, and Magrina, who had become children and were now staring at him sulkily.

And then after that—

“Get away from Alon—!”

Yutia, who was energetically pushing against Arculainysis’s head from Alon’s right side with both hands.

“Aaaaah—! Noooooo—!”

And Arculainysis, clinging desperately to Alon’s left arm while refusing to let go, even wrapping her tail around Alon’s waist to hold herself in place.

And then—

“.......”

Historia, who had °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° settled herself behind Alon and quietly wrapped her tail around his waist as well.

“Moveeeeeee—!”

“Nooooooo—!!”

Yutia practically flattening Arculainysis like a crushed cat, while Arculainysis stubbornly endured anyway.

Alon let out a small sigh as he recalled his conversation with Alexion.

‘......Did you perhaps deliver a different elixir than the one I mentioned?’

‘Absolutely not! We definitely brought the potion on the right side exactly as Lord Alon instructed......!’

‘......Understood.’

A very short conversation.

Yet from that brief exchange, Alon had been able to sense Alexion’s sincerity.

Meaning the probability that he himself had made a mistake was low.

‘Then they were brought incorrectly from the start.......’

A sigh escaped him naturally.

At this point, searching for the cause after the incident had already happened was meaningless anyway.

Still, the fortunate part was that the elixirs they consumed were not especially dangerous types, and the effects would last at most around two days.

Meaning if they simply endured for two days, the situation would resolve naturally on its own.

But the real problem was—

“.......”

Yutia and Arculainysis, who were still bickering childishly on either side of him.

“Grrrghhh—”

“Moveeeeeee—!”

The two endlessly repeating the same struggle over and over again.

......Honestly, if this was all there was to it, it would not have been something particularly concerning.

It was, quite literally, just a children’s fight.

But the problem was—

“Haaah— Alon.”

“What.”

“Can I do it?”

—even though she clearly looked like a child, Yutia kept occasionally saying things that were difficult to ignore.

Of course, one could dismiss it as meaningless because she was speaking in a childish state, but Alon could not take her words so lightly.

Because despite acting childishly, Yutia’s eyes—

“......That might be a little—”

“.......”

—were extremely chilling.

“......Hmph—”

Whatever displeased her so much, Yutia stared directly at Alon with a sulky expression, causing him to subtly avert his gaze.

Honestly, because of looks like that, part of him wanted to avoid stopping her no matter what she tried to do—

but for some reason, he felt that if he gave a positive answer to “Can I do it?”, something terrible would happen.

Flop—

Only briefly making a pouty face at Alon’s answer,

Yutia soon climbed back onto his lap and resumed diligently pushing Arculainysis away.

Watching her, Alon found himself slightly puzzled.

Because of Yutia’s behavior.

According to what Rine had explained, the elixir that regressed mental age essentially returned one’s memories and personality closer to how they had once been.

And as far as Alon knew, he had never personally met Yutia during childhood.

From the start, Alon had avoided meeting figures connected to the Five Great Sins, and had always delegated such matters to Evan instead.

Which meant, in simple terms, it was strange for a younger Yutia to recognize Alon immediately.

Moreover, according to what Evan had told him before, Yutia had never acted like this and had apparently been extremely mature even as a child.

‘......If only Evan were here, I could ask him.’

While observing her—someone who looked childlike yet somehow still carried an unsettling atmosphere—

[Godfather.]

Rine’s voice echoed inside Alon’s mind.

Turning his gaze, Alon looked toward the now-younger Rine.

Having regressed more than expected, she looked less like she was sitting in the chair and more like she was perched on it, yet she calmly met his gaze.

[Would you try speaking inside your mind once?]

At Rine’s words, Alon immediately did as instructed.

[......Like this?]

[Yes.]

[......How is this even possible?]

[It’s a small technique I obtained in the Forbidden Book Zone, Godfather.]

At Rine’s explanation, Alon let out a brief “Ah” and nodded.

Come to think of it, they had only physically become younger. Their abilities themselves had not disappeared.

And after briefly realizing that anew—

[But why are we speaking like this?]

When Alon asked, Rine answered without hesitation.

[Because of Yutia.]

[......Because of Yutia?]

[Yes. You may not realize it, Godfather, but her eyes right now are a bit.......]

[Hm?]

However, because Yutia was currently sitting directly on his thigh, Alon could not properly see her eyes himself.

[Rine, was Yutia like this when she was younger? From what Evan told me before, I heard she was extremely well-behaved.]

Taking the opportunity, Alon asked the question he had been wondering about.

Even aside from Evan, Rine had spent many years together with Yutia at the orphanage, so naturally she would know.

And in response to Alon’s question—

[That’s right. Yutia was mature.]

Rine gave a small nod as she answered.

[......Then why is she like this now?]

At Alon’s continued question, Rine thought briefly before replying.

[I think the elixir’s effect was applied to her ‘self’ instead.]

And at those words, Alon momentarily fell into confusion—

before quietly inhaling in realization.

Because he immediately understood what Rine meant.

[Don’t tell me—]

[Yes. Exactly that. Right now, Yutia seems to be—]

Because Alon had already heard the truth Yutia told him back at the academy.

[—the young Yutia from the first timeline.]

“Mm? Why are you staring, Alon?”

Sensing his gaze, those crimson red eyes suddenly looked up at him.

Though she still looked oddly sulky, she showed absolutely no intention of letting go as she tightly held onto his hand.