Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 578: Development (7)
Previously on Became the Patron of Villains...
In the old world from so long ago that not only had Alon’s memories become blurry, but he could no longer remember it at all—
for some reason, he felt like he had seen situations like this many times before.
Of course, it was not because he had actually experienced such things firsthand as some absurdly popular man.
Rather, among the novel sites he used to read often, there had once been a trend of stories in this kind of genre.
What had they called it again...?
What was it called...?
Ah.
‘Regret stories...... obsession stories......?’
Something along those lines, anyway.
The problem was—
“......”
why the girls now looked exactly like people straight out of one of those genres......
“......”
Alon slowly shifted his gaze toward the others.
As though hoping someone would explain the situation to him.
However—
“......”
“......”
“......”
the moment their eyes met his, every single one of them started making gloomy expressions.
At least Rine looked relatively normal, but unlike usual, even after Alon entered, she remained completely still, as though deeply lost in thought.
‘What happened......?’
Just as he was about to seriously consider what exactly had happened overnight—
“My beloved—!”
Arculainysis, who had been sitting there silently with her head lowered until now, suddenly shouted.
“Yes, Ar.”
Alon brightened immediately.
Hope appeared that he might finally learn the reason through her.
However, before he could even say anything—
“I am infinite—”
“......Infinite?”
“Indeed. I clearly saw infinity.”
—she started saying something strange.
And while doing so, she staggered forward with oddly twisting movements, almost like a zombie.
Startled by the bizarre sight, Alon unconsciously took a step backward.
‘......Something is wrong.’
He became even more convinced that the atmosphere in the reception room was abnormally strange compared to usual, and quickly turned around.
“I have something to take care of, so I shall return another time.”
Normally, he would have simply asked what on earth had happened.
However, judging from the atmosphere, that seemed impossible.
......And above all else, Alon instinctively realized something.
A fear that if he remained here, something might happen to him.
He gently pulled Seollang away from himself before immediately leaving the room.
“Eh......”
Around the time Arculainysis let out a cry while Seollang entered some strange state and started making soft “Uuu—” noises—
“......I guess it really is favorability.”
“Yeah...... I suppose so.”
At the muttering from Ryang-a and Historia—
“Ah.”
Arculainysis, who had been blankly staring toward the door, suddenly began turning into dust and disappearing.
Without even managing the slightest resistance.
And then—
Thud—
watching Arculainysis collapse unconscious—
“......Thank goodness.”
Ryang-a tightly hugged her orb.
The orb marked with favorability 24.
“......”
And so, after witnessing the once lively atmosphere of the reception room become utterly devastated in less than a single day—
“......As expected.”
—as though she had realized something, Rine looked toward the door Alon had exited through and smiled meaningfully.
At that same moment, after closing the reception room door behind him, Alon—
“Penia.”
“Ah, yes! Lord Alon!”
—encountered Penia the moment he entered the office.
“Uh......”
“Hmm? What is it?”
She looked extraordinarily lively even compared to usual.
“Ah, no.”
His thought of ‘Why is she acting like this?’ lasted only briefly before he gathered himself and asked—
“Did something good happen?”
“Hm?”
“......You seem more excited than usual today.”
Penia paused the quiet humming she had been doing to herself.
“Ahem, yes. Something good happened.”
She smiled mysteriously.
“Really? What happened?”
Even at Alon’s question, Penia merely smiled brightly.
“Heheh—”
And not just that—
she looked strangely triumphant.
“???”
Naturally, Alon could not even begin to guess the reason.
“Well...... alright.”
Pushing aside his confusion, Alon continued.
“More importantly, Penia. Did something happen yesterday without me knowing?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I went to say goodbye before leaving, and—”
Alon briefly explained everything that had happened.
In response, Penia—
“Mmm— I have no idea?”
—pretended ignorance with a bright smile.
“......Really?”
“Yes. Ah, more importantly, Lord Alon. There’s something I’d like to discuss for a moment.”
Before Alon could question her further, Penia quickly pushed documents toward him.
In the end, Alon stepped beside her and looked down at the opened papers.
“What part?”
Alon spoke calmly as usual.
However—
“Heheh......”
“?”
At the strange laughter that followed, Alon blankly looked down at her.
Penia kept making bizarre little noises as though she were in an exceptionally good mood.
“......Penia?”
When Alon called her again, she finally seemed to regain her senses and awkwardly cleared her throat.
Her finger swept across the papers.
“Yes yes, over here—”
For some reason, she wore a slightly provocative smile as she continued explaining.
Alon quietly watched her.
‘Something definitely happened, even if I do not know what.’
Based on everything he had learned so far, he could be certain.
Something had definitely occurred yesterday without his knowledge.
####
The reception room after Alon left was noisily chaotic in an awkward sort of way.
Seollang was still making soft “Uuu—” sounds, while Arculainysis remained collapsed unconscious in the exact same place.
And—
“Mmm...... I’m still 24. That’s better than 0 at least.”
“It’s better than 8 too.”
—the two of them blankly muttering over favorability scores that honestly looked equally tragic no matter how one viewed them.
Meanwhile—
“I think Sister Penia definitely tampered with something somehow. No matter how I think about it, this—”
—Magrina passionately continued insisting on conspiracy theories toward the two who were not listening to her at all.
In short, the situation was complete chaos.
“Hmm—”
Rine still sat there quietly lost in thought.
However, her thoughts did not simply begin from ‘The favorability scores make no sense!’
Rine quietly lifted her orb.
The favorability orb marked with 48.
As she stared silently at it—
Wooooong—
the golden crown emerged behind her back.
Tzztzztzzt—!
It moved before the orb, instantly split into dozens of strands, then lifted the orb from her palm as though absorbing it before beginning to dismantle it like a surgeon performing an operation.
“If it’s 24...... doesn’t that mean he at least thinks of you as a friend?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“Just about the level of a stranger.”
“......Really? Then what about 12?”
“......An even stranger stranger.”
“......”
“This is definitely weird. Something is—”
Naturally, despite Rine openly doing something so conspicuous, the others remained trapped in their devastated atmosphere and continued wallowing around.
Meanwhile, within that environment, Rine calmly dismantled the orb.
And soon—
Crack—
when the orb shattered apart—
“......As expected.”
Rine quietly muttered.
“Uu...... Rine...... uu......”
Unlike Rine, Seollang had now started clinging to Rine’s leg while sobbing loudly.
However, Rine calmly called her name.
“Seollang.”
“Whyyy—”
“It seems the favorability score was somehow wrong.”
“Yeah...... it was wrong......”
Seollang nodded gloomily.
But Rine shook her head.
“No, I am not saying we should escape reality. I mean the favorability score itself was genuinely wrong.”
She spoke calmly.
And then—
“......What?”
the despair that had covered Seollang’s face moments ago slowly changed into disbelief.
“For real......?”
“Yes. Really.”
“......Really really?”
“Yes. Truly.”
Rine nodded.
Seollang stared blankly for a moment before—
“R-really!?”
—her expression brightened instantly.
“I-is that true!?”
“As expected, there was no way that could be correct!”
“Exactly, it made no sense!”
“Right! There’s no way Boss would think so little of me no matter what!”
“......Agreed.”
At that, the others who had remained trapped in the swamp of despair all rushed toward Rine at once.
And then—
“S-so! Why exactly are the favorability scores wrong?”
At Seollang’s urgent question, Rine slowly smiled.
“I’ll show you.”
She rose from her seat.
Without exaggeration, Penia’s mood had been at its absolute peak since dawn yesterday.
And honestly, it could not be helped.
After all, among everyone gathered there, Penia’s favorability score had been the highest.
......To be perfectly honest, when the earlier numbers first appeared, she had briefly thought something felt strange.
However, she had never once considered the magic itself might be wrong.
After learning the favorability magic from Kylrus, she had repeatedly confirmed that the spell functioned properly.
Moreover, the fact that the spell only failed to work correctly on Alon, another mage, seemed strange in itself.
So Penia °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° believed the favorability values shown by the orbs.
And the fact that the orb with the value 72 belonged to her filled her with overwhelming happiness.
At least as far as Penia knew, there was no way the orb could lie.
Therefore—
“Marquis?”
“Ah, yes.”
“Ahem— um, may I ask you just one thing?”
“What is it?”
—even though Penia outwardly appeared perfectly normal—
she was not normal at all.
If one absolutely had to describe it—
“By any chance...... by any chance......”
“......?”
—she was currently overflowing with confidence.
......In truth, someone might inwardly wonder whether the number 72 was really all that high.
However, compared to the favorability scores of all the other women who had participated in the test—
the difference was enormous.
Which was why Penia would normally never—
“Do you perhaps have someone you like?”
“......What?”
No—not merely “normally never.”
It was the kind of thing she ordinarily would never even think about saying.
And yet—
“Someone you like.”
“......Someone I like?”
“Yes.”
—she spoke with overwhelming confidence visible to anyone watching.
And Alon stared at her blankly.
Meanwhile, Penia, still smiling brightly, deepened the smile on her lips even further.
“Actually, I—”
Quietly, her lips began to move.
