Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 579: Development (8)

“Actually, I......”

Knock knock.

Just as Penia was about to say something, a knocking sound interrupted her.

Alon briefly raised a hand toward Penia as though telling her to stop.

Meanwhile, Penia secretly puffed out her cheeks in dissatisfaction while staring at the door.

“Who is it?”

“Godfather, may we interrupt for a moment?”

The owner of the voice outside the door was Rine.

Though puzzled, Alon still told them to come in.

And immediately afterward, the women all poured into the office together alongside Rine.

“......Did everyone come together?”

The atmosphere was completely different from the devastated state he had seen earlier in the reception room.

It was not fully back to normal, but at least they looked alive again.

Seeing them suddenly rush in like this, Alon became bewildered.

However, only briefly.

“Godfather, perhaps—”

Rine whispered something into Alon’s ear.

“? Hmm— I do not mind.”

Soon, Alon nodded as though he understood.

And together with that—

“Blackie.”

He called out [N O V E L I G H T] Blackie, who had apparently fallen asleep in the pocket of his coat since it had not been long since they entered the office.

[Qquu...?]

Rubbing its sleepy eyes, Blackie popped out of the pocket.

“Rine says she wishes to do something with you for a moment. Is that alright?”

At Alon’s question, Blackie tilted its head from side to side.

Then, seemingly understanding his words, it climbed out of his chest pocket and onto Rine’s hand.

“Thank you, Godfather. Then we will be going now—”

Rine bowed politely, then immediately disappeared together with the women while carrying Blackie.

It was truly an entrance and exit like the wind.

While Alon remained blankly frozen—

“......!”

—Penia also stood there stunned for a moment before suddenly realizing something and lightly clapping her hands.

“Ah, Lord Alon, I should go too.”

“......Hm? You too?”

“Yes!”

Before Alon could even ask anything further, she immediately rose and hurried after the others.

And thus, inside the office—

Thud—!

[Hmnya!? Wh-what is it!?]

—only Basiliora, who had continued sleeping lazily regardless of whatever happened, and Alon remained behind.

“......What is going on.”

The unresolved mystery only deepened further.

####

Around the time Alon remained in the office with Basiliora—

the women, having returned to the reception room once again, continued their discussion in a grave atmosphere with Blackie placed atop the table.

“......So, what you are saying is that this little thing is the culprit behind the favorability scores?”

“That’s correct.”

Rine lightly nodded.

However, Penia, who had arrived late, asked in disbelief—

“......So the favorability scores we saw— those belonged to Blackie instead of Lord Alon?”

“Yes.”

“That should be impossible. In the first place, this magic should not work unless it is another mage—”

As she spoke that far, Penia suddenly let out a small gasp.

Certainly, Blackie was not a mage.

But at least as far as she knew, Blackie had used spell phrases before.

Even if only while assisting Alon.

Definitely.

Momentarily blanking out at the realization, Penia quickly shook her head and continued.

“But we definitely gathered Lord Alon’s magic power, didn’t we?”

However, Rine calmly answered.

“That is what I thought as well.”

“You thought so......?”

“Until I opened it.”

Rine showed Penia the favorability orb being held by the golden crown.

More precisely—

the orb Rine had thoroughly dissected.

And Penia quickly realized whose magic power the orb contained.

“......”

At first glance, it resembled Alon’s magic power.

But if one examined it a little more closely, the truth became obvious.

This was not Alon’s magic power.

It belonged to Blackie, who had received magic power from Alon.

“......Wh-what is this?”

Penia muttered in disbelief.

However, Rine continued speaking calmly.

“It seems that whenever we attempted to insert magic power, Blackie interfered somehow.”

“......Interfered?”

“Yes. Though I do not know the reason......”

Rine looked toward Blackie.

Blackie merely tilted its head innocently, radiating the feeling of ‘I have absolutely no idea what is happening?’

“And this deduction is quite reasonable as well.”

“......Why?”

“Think about the favorability scores.”

“......”

At Rine’s words, Penia recalled the numbers they had checked yesterday.

10 belonged to Magrina.

12 belonged to Historia.

8 belonged to Arculainysis.

0 belonged to Seollang.

24 belonged to Ryang-a.

42 belonged to Rine.

72 belonged to Penia.

As Penia blankly thought over those horribly chaotic favorability values— all tragically low except for two—

“Ah......”

she quietly let out a realization-filled sigh.

“Surely not......”

Soon afterward, she stared at Blackie with an empty expression.

And Rine spoke again, as though confirming Penia’s conclusion was correct.

“Blackie has not met Magrina or Historia very often. Correct?”

“Uh...... that is true.”

“Right. We have only met a few times.”

The two nodded in agreement.

Rine continued.

“Arculainysis was probably meeting Blackie almost for the first time.”

“Indeed!”

“And Ryang-a’s favorability was noticeably higher than the others, but—”

“Uh...... that is probably because when I was in Divine Land, I played with Blackie a lot. Not constantly, but I did spend time together several times.”

“That resolves that question. And as for Seollang—”

“But then why am I still 0!? That makes no sense!”

Seollang protested as though it were utterly impossible.

However, the others merely turned their gazes away from her in silence with strange expressions.

“Why!? Why is everyone treating me like this!?”

Despite Seollang’s outcry, Rine calmly delivered the next truth.

“And as for me and Penia...... we already know why, do we not?”

At Rine’s words—

“Ah......”

Penia let out another realization-filled gasp.

Because by that point, she had already understood exactly how her favorability score had accumulated.

‘Late-night snacks......’

Blackie and Penia were not on bad terms.

However, the reason Blackie’s favorability toward her was so high was undoubtedly because Penia had given it the most late-night snacks.

Of course, she had always received some degree of compensation in return for those snacks.

But that fact still remained true.

“Ah......”

Penia released a sigh overflowing with disappointment.

Now that she realized everything had been a misunderstanding, an unbearably heavy wave of reality crashed down upon her.

And then—

she remembered.

“Ah......”

The way she had looked at Alon in the office earlier today with overwhelming confidence.

“Ahhhhhhh......”

The way she had flirted with him so boldly and confidently.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh—”

And not only that—

after creating the atmosphere entirely by herself, she had even suddenly tried to hear Alon’s true feelings—

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH—!!!”

Penia collapsed to the floor while clutching her head.

The embarrassment was so overwhelming that she curled up like a caterpillar and even began wriggling around.

“......She completely lost her mind all of a sudden......”

“Puhahaha! Have you become a caterpillar now? To collapse so pathetically! Truly amusing!”

At that, the two who had suffered the worst mental destruction earlier now mocked Penia as though they themselves had never experienced such things.

“......Oh dear—”

“Hey, move your hand.”

“......”

Apparently still harboring resentment toward Penia for smiling victoriously while everyone else had been drowning in despair yesterday, Historia removed the hand covering Penia’s face and quietly laughed.

Meanwhile, Ryang-a merely stared at the sight with an awkward “Eh......” expression.

And finally—

Rine saw it.

Blackie, who moments ago had tilted its head as though knowing absolutely nothing, now looked at them while making tiny “Qqyu qqyu—” sounds as though declaring there was absolutely no chance whatsoever.

“......”

After seeing that, even Rine could not help developing strange feelings herself.

####

The next day.

As planned, Alon departed for the Mage Tower.

Originally, he had intended to visit Rosario first rather than the Mage Tower.

However, he wanted to quickly investigate what Reinysius had said.

......Specifically, Reinysius’s claim that something was hidden within the system.

In any case, because of that, Alon headed toward the Mage Tower as planned and was able to say goodbye to everyone beforehand.

Fortunately, the women who had previously been swept up in that bizarre atmosphere had now completely returned to normal as though nothing had happened.

However, if there was one problem—

“......Penia. What exactly were you trying to say yesterday?”

“Ah, ahhhhh, i-it was nothing—”

“Nothing......?”

“It was really nothing......”

—then it was probably that now Penia had become the strange one instead.

“Gaaahhh......”

“......”

For a moment, Alon silently watched Penia tightly shut her eyes as though recalling a humiliating dark history she never wished to remember again, unable even to meet his gaze.

Then—

“......I should be going now.”

[Huhu— It has been quite some time since my last flight.]

As soon as Alon spoke, Basiliora immediately rose into the sky as though it had been waiting for this moment.

And soon, as the territory below rapidly shrank into the distance—

‘It really does feel like some kind of multi-racial alliance now.’

—Alon found himself thinking that unconsciously.

The Palantia he looked down upon from the sky had changed completely from the scenery he had seen before.

Moreover, he also knew that not everyone had even fully migrated into Palantia yet.

‘......The next time I return, it will probably have changed even more than I expect again.’

Thinking that, Alon turned his gaze away.

Soon afterward, while staring at the blue sky, he calmly began organizing everything he needed to accomplish at the Mage Tower.

‘......The first thing I should do is learn the magic that has already been interpreted.’

At the Mage Tower, not only did he need to ask about Reinysius’s words—

he also needed to learn the interpreted magic.

After all, because of one matter after another, it had been quite a long time since Alon had last visited the Mage Tower.

‘......I do not think I have returned since meeting Reinysius. Too many things kept happening......’

By now, there was probably quite a large backlog of magic waiting for him to learn.

And if he mastered all of that accumulated magic—

‘......I should be able to connect it.’

He would be able to integrate it into the magic system he had personally created.

Holding onto that expectation, Alon headed toward the Mage Tower.

####

The trip to the Mage Tower did not take very long.

If it had been one of the other Mage Towers located far away from Palantia, perhaps it would have.

However, his destination was the Central Mage Tower, which was relatively nearby.

Thus, after traveling leisurely for around three days, Alon finally arrived at the entrance of the Central Mage Tower.

And the moment he arrived—

someone immediately emerged from the entrance as though waiting for him.

No—

it was Heinkel.

“?”

Watching Heinkel and the surrounding mages rush out toward him, Alon made a bewildered expression.

......After all, the mages behaving like this was understandable since they had acted similarly before.

But Heinkel was not someone who normally expressed hospitality in such an enthusiastic way.

Thus, while still confused, Alon briefly adjusted his clothes after arriving.

And then—

once Heinkel reached Alon and Penia—

“You have arrived, Father! And Mother!”

—with an entirely natural smile, as though this were the most obvious thing in the world, she looked at Alon and Penia respectively and shouted.

“Eh......?”

“Heh......?”

[?]

[Qqyu?]

At Heinkel’s declaration, Alon’s group could only freeze with blank expressions for a moment.