Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 570: Strange Territory (8)
Previously on Became the Patron of Villains...
Rine Grof possessed the Library of Eternity.
A library said to contain all knowledge in this world.
But naturally, even so, that did not mean she could obtain every piece of knowledge that existed in this world.
No matter how much she was the library’s owner, Rine merely possessed the authority to enter that library.
It was not as though all knowledge inside the library existed within her head.
And furthermore, the library located within the Forbidden Book Zone was not something she could easily access whenever she wished.
It was like tens of thousands—hundreds of thousands—of bookshelves filled with books that had not been properly categorized even once.
But paradoxically, precisely because of that, Rine Grof was able to grasp the outline of Yutia’s ability, something she had only vaguely speculated about during the first timeline.
More specifically, how the ability she possessed had been created—
“Yutia, exactly how much did you ‘use’......?”
—and what kind of price it consumed.
“.......”
At that question, Yutia, who had been frowning until just moments ago, instantly became expressionless.
Those crimson eyes stared silently at Rine, impossible to read.
For a short while, she remained like that.
“It’s not enough for you to worry about.”
Yutia quietly opened her mouth.
The Yutia standing before Rine now looked nothing like the one she showed in front of Alon, wearing an utterly emotionless face—
yet Rine did not panic.
Because even in the first timeline she remembered, she had seen that expression from Yutia many times before.
“......Are you seriously saying that?”
“Yeah.”
“From what I can see— it doesn’t look that way at all.”
Rine stated firmly.
It could not be otherwise.
The more she spoke with Yutia, the more clearly Rine understood why she had become like this even after her mental age had reverted to childhood.
“Is there even a single thing left?”
“.......”
Rine’s words.
And then the quiet silence that followed.
......Within that silence, one that almost felt unpleasant, Rine received Yutia’s answer.
‘As expected—’
Rine let out a low sigh.
Because she realized her assumption had been correct.
At first, she had questioned Yutia’s behavior.
The Yutia from the first timeline had clearly been summoned here, so why did she not show even the slightest confusion about the current situation?
Why did she not feel any sense of incongruity?
But the premise itself had been wrong from the start.
Yutia was not refraining from expressing confusion.
Nor was it that she felt no incongruity.
It was simply impossible.
Yutia could not express confusion.
She could not feel incongruity.
Because—
“As expected, you used all of it. Every memory from your childhood.”
—she did not remember her childhood.
Not a single thing.
“.......”
Rine looked at Yutia.
Yutia still merely stared back at her silently with unreadable crimson eyes, without saying anything.
How much time passed like that?
“Rine.”
Suddenly, Yutia spoke.
“......Please speak.”
“I’ll say it again. It’s not enough for you to worry about.”
Her voice remained calm.
“......Not enough to worry about? Even now, all your memories are gone, and without any information or important memories left, you’re only speaking in a state where you’ve forcibly ‘patched yourself together’ for the sake of your objective.”
At that, Rine frowned deeply.
But—
“So what’s the problem?”
Yutia asked back casually.
“......What?”
“I asked what the problem is.”
“Yutia, are you seriously saying that?”
Rine could not hide her disbelief.
“Of course it’s a problem......!”
“No, it isn’t.”
But Yutia firmly shook her head at Rine.
“That isn’t a problem, Rine.”
“Why not!? If you keep using it like this, eventually your very existence will completely—”
“That’s fine too.”
Yutia’s firm declaration.
At that, Rine fell silent for a moment.
No, she had no choice but to.
Because the emotion reflected on Yutia’s face was more than enough to stop Rine’s words.
“You know, Rine. You understand this, right? Everyone values different things.”
Yutia slowly continued speaking.
“That’s why what’s important is different too.”
“.......”
As though insisting there was absolutely nothing wrong with herself.
“You said it yourself, didn’t you? That memories and existence are important. But unfortunately, they aren’t important to me. The only thing important to me is—”
She merely explained calmly.
“—Alon.”
“.......”
“So it’s okay.”
“.......”
“Even until the very end—”
Because I won’t lose what’s truly important.
As long as I haven’t reached the very end.
And Yutia smiled.
Simply—
quietly.
####
The next day, after a full day had passed.
By the time Basiliora and Blackie had each settled into their own spots and were lazily napping thanks to the greatly reduced amount of paperwork caused by Nangwon—
“Huu—”
Alon let out a sigh of relief.
Because the children who had changed after drinking the elixirs yesterday had finally returned to normal.
Of course, he had known from the start that they would recover within a day or two, but they had returned faster than expected.
His small, unnecessary worry of ‘What if they never go back to normal?’ had quickly disappeared.
However, separate from that, not everything had been resolved yet.
The incident caused by the elixirs had been settled, but regardless, he still intended to compensate the children who had suffered unavoidable damage.
And so, after handling around ten documents selected and organized by Nangwon out of the hundreds of newly delivered papers today, Alon headed toward the reception room.
“Ah, Master!”
“Seollang, is your body alright?”
“Mm— I’m fine!”
“How about everyone else? Is everyone alright too?”
“Yes, Godfather.”
“I’m alright too, Brother.”
“Me too!”
“Ahem— this great one is perfectly fine as well!”
“Mm.”
After briefly greeting everyone gathered inside the reception room, Alon was about to begin speaking—
“......Hm?”
—but soon showed a puzzled expression.
Because Yutia, who until yesterday had remained attached directly beside him—
......no, practically glued to his side—
was nowhere to be seen.
“It seems Yutia isn’t here...... Where did she go?”
At Alon’s question, Seollang tilted her head.
“If you mean Yutia, I think she left this morning?”
“......Left?”
“Yeah. I’m not really sure why. Her presence just disappeared in the blink of an eye, so I thought, ‘Oh, she left.’ Mm— if Master wants, I can go find her?”
Alon pondered Seollang’s words for only a moment.
Then he recalled that the elixir’s effects had started fading this morning—
along with the image of the younger Yutia from yesterday.
“Ah.......”
......And just like that, Alon felt like he roughly understood why Yutia had left, so he shook his head.
“No, there’s no need.”
“Mm— if Master says so, alright!”
Seollang nodded with a smile.
Then Alon lightly cleared his throat.
“I’ve reviewed everyone’s proposals.”
““.......””
At Alon’s words, the atmosphere inside the reception room instantly became quiet.
For some reason, the mood felt slightly tense.
Sensing that atmosphere, Alon slowly swept his gaze over them before pulling out a sheet of paper from inside his clothes.
“......Hm.”
A low groan escaped him unconsciously.
......Truthfully, before coming here, Alon had already decided on the compensation he intended to give the children.
That compensation was to divide portions of territorial autonomy among them.
Of course, unlike Nangwon, who would receive an entire territory outright, the children gathered here would each receive around one-third of a newly created territory.
Though calling it that hardly did it justice—it was still larger than most ordinary domains.
Now that the True Form had been constructed, the size of the Palantia territory had become unimaginably enormous.
......Anyway, despite having more or less settled on that decision, the reason Alon could not immediately bring it up was—
“But before that, there’s one thing I need to ask all of you.......”
—because of the contents written inside those proposals.
“First...... Magrina?”
“Yes, Brother.”
“......Could you explain what exactly you mean by bringing the World Tree here and planting it?”
Even though Alon had definitely read it properly, the contents of the proposal still felt so absurd that he thought he would need to reread it five more times just to believe it.
“Ah.......”
Magrina let out a short sigh before—
“......Would it not work?”
—asking carefully.
“.......”
Alon somehow restrained the urge to ask 'How could that possibly work?' and instead let out a slow breath as though trying to calm himself before replying.
“I think that would probably be difficult no matter what.”
“Ehh— but the World Tree would like it too.”
“......The World Tree?”
“Well, you are its father.”
““Huh?””
At Magrina’s perfectly casual words, the others turned toward Alon with expressions that clearly said 'What kind of nonsense is this now?'
“It’s a magical matter.”
Alon briefly answered after glancing toward Rine, who already seemed to understand the situation and remained silent, before continuing.
“......Rather than moving the entire World Tree, how about cutting off a branch and planting that instead?”
“A branch?”
“Yes. Since moving the whole thing is impossible anyway—”
“No, I’ll do as you said, Brother.”
Magrina nodded with a smile.
Seeing that, Alon secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Because although he had only asked Magrina for confirmation, the proposal itself had contained an alarmingly detailed plan explaining exactly how she intended to bring the World Tree here.
'At least she listens well. Thank goodness.'
But that thought lasted only briefly.
Alon quickly realized it was still far too early to relax.
The reason he had brought these proposals here in the first place was because anyone could tell there were serious problems with them.
And there were six proposals total.
Meaning Alon still had five more to deal with.
And so, carefully turning the pages—
“Seollang.”
“Yeah! Master!”
“It says here that you want to build a colosseum.”
“That’s right!”
“......That part is fine, but....... what exactly do you mean by bringing all the Baba Yaga here?”
“Hm? I mean exactly what it says. The colosseum won’t function properly unless we bring the Baba Yaga and the fighters here too, right?”
Seollang spoke as though it were obvious.
And honestly, she was not wrong.
Without fighters, a colosseum would just be an impressive-looking building.
However—
“......Then what happens to Colony after the Baba Yaga leave?”
Naturally, if the Baba Yaga were brought here, Colony—whose primary military force was essentially them—would suffer massive losses.
Meaning Karsemm, who had only just stabilized the kingdom, might very well cry tears of blood.
However—
“......?”
Seollang looked at him with an expression that practically said 'Why should we care about that?'
And Alon quietly closed his mouth.
“Ah!”
Then suddenly, Seollang let out a loud exclamation as though she had achieved some incredible realization.
The moment Alon looked toward her—
“Then should we just move all of Colony here too?”
“.......”
He immediately grabbed his head.
