Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 575: Development (4)
Previously on Became the Patron of Villains...
Right around the time everyone was secretly discussing their confidential topic while strengthening their resolve, Alon—
“So, have you... been well?”
“...Yes.”
—was speaking with Contanias.
...No, could this even really be called a conversation?
“......”
Alon looked at Contanias.
Nothing had changed.
Still wearing laborer’s clothes instead of flashy garments, staring at Alon with a face full of dark circles beneath his eyes.
“......”
“......”
An uncomfortable silence flowed between them.
As expected.
That thought crossed Alon’s mind.
But despite how awkward the situation was, the reason Alon spoke first was because Contanias looked so utterly miserable.
...To the point that ignoring him felt impossible.
“...Ahem.”
Alon awkwardly cleared his throat.
Objectively speaking, Alon himself had not actually placed Contanias in this situation.
But at the same time, he acknowledged that he was at least partially responsible.
“Still... why are you wearing laborer’s clothes?”
Breaking the uncomfortable silence, Alon asked the question.
And Contanias answered with a strange, gloomy expression.
“...The Guardian Dragon commanded it.”
“Arga?”
“Yes......”
“...Even so, you’re still a prince. Isn’t that the sort of order you could simply ignore?”
“...If I ignore it, I stop being a prince.”
“I see.”
Just as Alon nodded awkwardly while vaguely feeling as though curses could somehow be heard in the distance behind that statement—
“Ah, Your Majesty!”
At the voice from behind, Alon turned his gaze.
Standing there was Lime, Seollang’s secretary.
“It’s been a while.”
And then Alon immediately turned around and headed toward her at lightning speed.
“Hm?”
“What’s wrong?”
“No, Your Majesty—you somehow seem to be in an extremely good mood. There’s even a slight smile of relief around your mouth...”
Lime spoke in confusion while watching him.
But only briefly.
“Ah—”
After letting out a small exclamation, she continued.
“But what brings you here? Lady Seollang went back to the main castle.”
“...The main castle?”
“Yes. She said she had something she wanted to tell Your Majesty.”
“...Looks like we missed each other somehow.”
Only then did Alon realize why Seollang was absent, and he immediately turned around—
“Yah!”
At the familiar voice from behind, arms and legs suddenly wrapped themselves around Alon’s neck and torso.
“...Seollang?”
“Correct, Teacher!”
Seollang answered cheerfully.
For a moment, Alon could feel his center of gravity shifting as though she were happily swinging herself side to side while clinging onto him.
Then shortly afterward, Seollang detached herself from him and landed back on the ground.
Tap—
At the same time, a faint sound rang out, almost like plastic lightly clicking together.
“?”
“Hm? What is it, Teacher?”
“No, didn’t you hear something? Like something making a clicking sound—”
“Ah, I think I heard it too.”
Like Alon, Lime also nodded in confusion.
“Hm? I didn’t hear anything though?”
“...Really?”
“Yeah. I wonder what kind of sound it was~?”
Instead, Seollang tilted her head slightly while glancing around.
Seeing that, Alon simply shrugged.
“More importantly, what was it you wanted to discuss?”
Remembering that Seollang had apparently said she had something to tell him, Alon spoke.
At that, Seollang let out a short “Ah.”
“Ah, Teacher. If it’s alright with you, how about making a contract with Colony?”
“A contract with Colony?”
“Ah, so that’s what this was about.”
As Alon answered in confusion, Lime let out a small exclamation and cleared her throat.
“If it’s alright, may I briefly explain from here?”
“Go ahead.”
Alon nodded, and Lime immediately began speaking with the polished fluency of someone who had prepared this beforehand.
And after a short while—
“So in other words, after completing the colosseum, you want to invite Colony’s fighters over and borrow them temporarily?”
“That’s right. Under normal circumstances maybe not, but right now this is actually a win-win situation for both sides.”
At Lime’s words, Alon slowly nodded.
Though the explanation itself had not been especially long, thanks to how organized and clear her explanation was, Alon quickly grasped the full situation.
‘...In short, they’re asking whether we’d be willing to support Colony in exchange for temporarily borrowing manpower.’
Fundamentally, the colosseum was currently the greatest entertainment attraction among the citizens.
And by “greatest,” it was popular enough that people willingly traveled all the way into the blistering desert heat just to watch the matches.
...Of course, one reason Colony itself was famous was because of the various precious minerals that could only be obtained from the desert, but regardless, the colosseum truly was that popular among the masses.
Naturally, though, people were not fascinated solely by the colosseum itself.
The true source of excitement was the fighters inside it.
And creating fighters from absolutely nothing was far more difficult than expected.
Meaning that right now, paying a price to temporarily bring fighters here was not a bad arrangement at all.
The only issue was that pulling fighters away could worsen Colony’s economy.
Even if they could no longer contribute significantly to the battle against Karma at the current stage, the collapse of an entire nation still carried considerable risk.
However, the reason Alon was able to seriously consider Lime’s proposal was because she had also explained that Colony’s current situation was apparently far worse than expected.
“...Is Colony’s condition truly serious enough that they can’t even operate the colosseum?”
“Yes... It seems they borrowed money from quite a few places......”
Lime’s expression darkened slightly.
Seeing that, Alon suddenly realized something.
‘...Ah, right. She and Karsemm were in a relationship.’
The truth about Lime resurfaced in his mind, and Alon briefly let out a quiet exclamation.
“Hm—”
After a brief moment of thought, Alon nodded.
“Alright. Let’s do it.”
“Ah, really!?”
Lime’s face instantly brightened as though it were her own matter being resolved.
Watching her, Alon nodded once more.
“Yes. If Colony’s situation is serious enough that they cannot even afford to keep their fighters active, then we should help. Besides, this is not entirely one-sided support. However—”
“However...?”
“The contract period will remain flexible. Once Colony’s finances recover, the fighters will return to Colony.”
“Ah......”
At Alon’s words, Lime momentarily blanked out.
They were calling it a contract, but in reality it was practically equivalent to unilateral aid for Colony.
“A-are you really sure that’s alright?”
“Yes.”
But naturally, Alon had no intention of simply giving aid forever either.
‘The fighters are only necessary during the beginning stages anyway.’
Once Palantia’s colosseum truly began operating properly, fighters would naturally gather on their own, and eventually Palantia’s entire ecosystem would form naturally.
Meaning the fighters from Colony were only necessary in the early stages. After that, they would no longer be particularly needed.
That was why Alon could nod without hesitation.
“I’ll make sure to tell Karsemm—!”
At Alon’s words, Lime bowed her head deeply, looking genuinely moved.
Right after that—
“That’s a relief, huh?”
After Alon left, Seollang looked toward Lime and spoke teasingly.
Lime nodded repeatedly.
“Yes, really!”
“Mmm—Teacher really does have a generous heart~”
“Seriously, I almost fell for him.”
Lime answered with a laugh.
However—
“Hah?”
The moment Seollang’s expression turned completely blank, Lime froze.
“A-Ah, I didn’t mean it like that! I already have Karsemm!”
“Ahh~ I thought so.”
Seollang smiled and nodded.
Seeing that, Lime quietly let out a relieved sigh and hurriedly continued.
“Yes, honestly, Lord Alon—I mean, His Majesty—isn’t even close to my type compared to Karsemm.”
“Hoh~ Really?”
“Yes. Besides, Karsemm is much more handsome anyway.”
“Hah~? That’s definitely not true though?”
“......”
Even after giving what she believed was an entirely reasonable explanation, Lime watched Seollang’s smiling face gradually turn cold again and nearly burst into tears.
####
The Golden Dragon Reinysius was aware of most things happening throughout Palantia’s territory.
After all, Palantia itself operated through Reinysius’s magical power.
Of course, that did not mean he constantly monitored everything happening within the territory.
The magical power itself was supplied endlessly, so maintaining it was not difficult, but even for a dragon, paying attention to every single event occurring throughout Palantia at all times was exhausting.
And yet despite that, Reinysius had currently chosen the rare option of actively focusing on the territory’s internal situation.
Because of Alon.
Or more precisely, because strange magical power was flowing among the women constantly following around behind Alon.
“Hmmm—”
And so, Reinysius closed his eyes.
Naturally entrusting his consciousness to the flow of magical power, his vision instantly shifted toward the office inside the mansion.
And what he saw there was Alon and the Elf Queen speaking together with smiles.
...Honestly, up to this point, there was nothing especially strange.
What Reinysius found strange—
was the women hidden where Alon and Magrina could not see them.
Two of them were pressed against opposite sides of the window.
Another two were attached to the ceiling.
And one more was plastered directly against the door.
And every single one of them wore expressions filled with obvious irritation for some reason.
“Ahem, Brother?”
“What is it?”
“This may sound sudden, but would you mind giving me your hand for a moment?”
“...My hand?”
“Yes. Ahem—apparently there’s an interesting story circulating among the elves recently.”
Magrina spoke with a smile.
At that, Alon simply shrugged and casually offered his hand.
And the moment Magrina grabbed it—
“Just a moment.”
She spun around naturally and slipped directly into Alon’s arms.
“...Magrina?”
“Ah, sorry. I needed to view your hand from the proper angle.”
Magrina lightly fiddled with Alon’s hand while subtly lowering her flushed face.
And then—
“Hah?”
“What’s that woman doing right now?”
“Isn’t this violating the contract?”
“...Should we flip the table?”
“Look at that, she hasn’t even activated the orb yet.”
“This violates the contract, right? I can go in now, right?”
“...Hmmm—”
For some reason, terrifying voices echoed out.
And at the same time, a gigantic shadow seemed to appear somewhere far off in the sky as killing intent quietly began leaking outward—
No.
“......”
Even the Gold Dragon flinched slightly at the killing intent being emitted by the women.
And meanwhile—
“...Magrina? Are you not done yet?”
“Mmm—no, it’s just... I didn’t hear the explanation properly earlier, so I’m trying to examine this carefully, and it’s taking a little longer......?”
Despite receiving the women’s murderous intent in its entirety, Magrina merely pressed herself even closer against Alon as though none of it mattered at all.
Watching that, the ancient dragon quietly withdrew his gaze and thought:
Getting involved between those women for no reason could lead to a truly terrible outcome.
“...I should focus on my own work.”
For some reason, the colossal figure in the distant sky seemed to become even clearer, and Reinysius forcibly turned his attention away.
It was early summer... .