I Became the Patron of Villains

210. The North…? (1)

The World Tree in the land of the Elves, Greynif.

The enormous royal castle beneath it was currently filled with tension.

The reason was simple.

Even the Elves, who had lived for hundreds of years, had never seen the face of the Lizardman god, Hazard, who had come to the castle.

Of course, it wasn’t like that from the beginning.

In fact, Hazard, known as the Sage God, came to meet the Queen without causing any trouble.

Magrina also accepted Hazard’s visit without any tension.

Moreover,

Although it seemed like their long-awaited meeting would be awkward, the two conversed in a surprisingly smooth atmosphere.

Rather than showing the leadership qualities expected of the heads of their respective nations, they were rather friendly.

Of course, both maintained a basic business-like attitude due to their statuses.

Nevertheless, as the conversation continued in a comfortable atmosphere, the Elves were bewildered but relieved.

Yes, until just a moment ago.

“The Elves who were guarding my friend can now step back. They’re too weak to guard properly anyway, aren’t they? It would be better for us Lizardmen to take over the guard duty.”

Until Hazard, whose face was barely visible, said those words.

“…Ha? What nonsense are you spouting now?”

In an instant,

The air in the audience chamber began to cool.

“Hmm- It’s not wrong, is it? Lizardmen are much stronger than Elves.”

Hazard’s voice remained unchanged despite Magrina’s chilling gaze.

At his response, Magrina’s lips twisted into a smirk.

“Huh- Is that so? A lowly race that would have been annihilated if not for the help of the primordial Elf?”

“That goes for the Elves too. And to be precise, I did help.”

“Help? You received more help than you gave.”

“…”

The Queen’s sneer echoed through the space.

Hazard paused for a moment and scratched his head awkwardly.

“Well, I won’t deny that I received a lot from my friend.”

“Chinwoo, you haven’t really given anything, have you?”

“Hmm.”

After a moment of groaning at her repeated attacks, Hazard insisted again.

“Anyway, from now on, we’ll take on the escort duty.”

“What if I refuse?”

“It seems you want to put Chinwoo in danger.”

“You’re quite confident. Besides, you can’t even escort quietly like we can, can you?”

“Hmph – safety is more important than a quiet escort.”

Hazard glared at Magrina.

She also glared at Hazard.

Everyone held their breath in the standoff that neither side would back down from.

After a sufficiently chilly silence had passed.

“Then let’s go ask him who he wants to be escorted by.”

Magrina suggested with a smile, as if she had thought of a clever plan.

“Good.”

Hazard nodded as if he had been waiting for those words.

Each wore a smile of victory on their faces.

The elves and lizardmen watching them –

“……”

Silently lowered their eyes at the soundless sparks flying between the two.

####

About a week after Alon arrived in Caliban.

In what could be considered a long or short time, Alon focused on fully recovering his body.

During that time, he gained one realization and heard two rumors.

The first rumor Evan told him was that Eliban was eliminating the strange creatures faster than expected.

The second was that most of the organizations that had been causing trouble since the start of Psychedelia had disappeared on their own, which Alon had been somewhat worried about.

“……Evan.”

“Yes, sir?”

“The organizations you mentioned yesterday, are they all really gone?”

“Yes. Just to be sure, I asked the information guild for cross-verification, and they said all but a few are gone.”

“……Why did it disappear?”

“Hmm- If I recall the contents mentioned during the conversation, it seems like they all collapsed due to external attacks such as raids by the opposing organization? Or they perished overnight.”

Evan, who was pondering for a moment, soon added as if something had come to mind.

“Oh! Come to think of it, it seems like one place wiped out several organizations. It looks like Blood Sword, Dark Ghost, and Piriman… What was the other one? Dark Wood?”

“……Do you mean Dark Wood?”

“Ah, yes, there. It seems like one person handled it.”

“Why?”

“They said the method of killing was the same. Wasn’t it that their necks were twisted twice? I think it was something like that.”

Alon stroked his chin with a peculiar expression.

Indeed, there was a commonality among the organizations Evan mentioned.

‘Probably all of them started gaining fame by killing famous people. Later, they infiltrated each kingdom and acted like parasites, gnawing at the insides.’

From the player’s perspective, no matter which kingdom they started in, there was a commonality that they could receive quests to get closer to the king through those organizations.

However, since there was no other commonality, Alon, who was pondering, thought.

‘Well, if the organizations disappeared due to the butterfly effect, that’s not bad either. If they hadn’t disappeared, I would have had to move.’

He decided to focus on the fact that the organizations that had been bothering him were all cleaned up this time.

‘……Even so, there will be many who will crawl out thinking it’s their time around the middle.’

Of course, there were enemies that would appear again later.

Strong enemies that matched the balance of Psychedelia.

Anyway, it wasn’t bad that the annoying organizations were cleared out for now.

As he sighed and leaned back comfortably on the backrest,

[Kyuu?]

Kkamang, who had been tapping the ball on the floor until a moment ago, quickly climbed onto Alon’s thigh and tilted its head.

After petting Kkamang, who was acting cute as if to comfort him, Alon closed his eyes.

He could now observe the deities inside quite quickly.

He looked at the deities floating in the air and soon zoomed in on the deity of Kalanon.

As soon as he touched it, the deity of Kalanon naturally grew larger, as if a distant planet was being pulled in at once.

In the enlarged deity,

There were shining stars and faintly spreading blue dots around, just like Alon had seen last time.

This was a fact that Alon newly realized while investigating the deity over the past week.

When the deity was enlarged, it was a way to see the believers of this deity.

First, the white starlight signifies those to whom Alon has shared his power.

The dark-colored to slightly bright blue dots visible around the divine presence, which are hard to notice unless you look closely.

They served as indicators of how many people believed in this divine presence and to what extent they believed.

‘Though it was thanks to Kalanon who briefly appeared and informed me, rather than realizing it myself.’

Alon recalled Kalanon, who had suddenly appeared a few days ago and had a short conversation for a few minutes, and then looked at the other divine presences one by one.

The divine presence of the primordial elf had a lot of bright green dots, but their number was not large.

Kalanon’s divine presence also had many blue dots, but their number was not that many.

The red divine presence had two brightly shining red dots.

Surprisingly, the white divine presence had overwhelmingly more white dots compared to the other divine presences.

However, the white divine presence had something a bit peculiar compared to the other divine presences.

When the divine presence was magnified, the white divine presence appeared as a faded gray color.

And finally, the black divine presence, like a black hole—

“……Ah.”

The moment he tried to magnify the black divine presence.

Alon felt his contemplation break and opened his eyes.

Whenever he tried to look at the black divine presence, his contemplation always broke in this manner, unlike with the other divine presences.

A repeated situation of unknown cause.

With a peculiar expression, Alon.

[Kyuu?]

As he stopped petting, Kkamangi, who expressed dissatisfaction by tilting its head, was petted again.

“Evan.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s start preparing to depart for the north.”

They began preparing to depart for the north.

####

The next day.

Alon heard an unexpected story from Deus.

“……The ‘Great Collapse’ has occurred?”

“Yes. A report came from the forward base yesterday.”

Alon closed his mouth.

The Great Collapse.

It was the phenomenon where the snow accumulated on the snowy mountain poured down to the ground, covering the paths of the snowy mountain, making it extremely dangerous.

The immediate problem was that it was difficult to move forward because of the fallen snow.

But more dangerous than that.

The fallen snow covered all the crevasses that one should avoid on the snowy mountain.

Because of that, when the Great Collapse occurred.

Unless the fallen snow disappeared due to the ‘earthquake’ that only occurred in the snowy mountain, the snowy mountain would become an extremely dangerous terrain for several months.

According to what Alon knew, this setting was.

Created to prevent players from going straight to Caliburn and then to the snowy mountain in the early to mid-game.

However, one thing that didn’t make sense was.

‘…Why did the Great Collapse happen at this point in time? In Psychedelia, it should have occurred later than now.’

The timing of the Great Collapse.

Although it was earlier than the information he knew, he was puzzled.

But only for a moment.

“The expedition won’t go out either.”

“Since the Great Collapse occurred, I think so. At this time, even the barbarians don’t come out.”

Alon decided to postpone going to the north.

‘It might not be a bad thing.’

He wanted to study the divine powers he had obtained this time, including Kalannon’s, more deeply along with magic.

Alon neatly gave up going to the north.

“Oh! Then are we going home?”

“You look delighted.”

“Well, isn’t it good to rest a bit? There was a big event in the jungle too.”

“That’s true.”

With Evan’s quick arrangement, the destination was changed to the Marquis’ house.

“Then, see you next time.”

“Yes, Marquis. I will visit you first in four months.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“No, I will.”

“…Well, if you insist.”

After a brief farewell.

Deus, who saw Alon off as he departed for the Marquis of Palatio in a carriage, moved to disband the expedition.

After a little time had passed.

“It seems all the work is done.”

“Hmm-“

Receiving the report from his lieutenant, he returned to the mansion.

On the way to the office.

Deus smiled unconsciously.

Going to the office usually meant work.

However, the reason Deus was heading to the office now was, in a sense, a pleasant rest and play for him.

‘…Just a little more and the blueprint will be complete.’

It was to finalize the blueprint for the statue commission.

He had been busily moving to place the order before leaving for this expedition.

Before he knew it, his steps became lighter.

The moment he opened the office door-

“…Silly?”

“Hello, brother.”

His younger sister, Silly, was there.

She was engrossed in the blueprint he had been diligently working on.

Deus flinched unconsciously at the sight.

Because he remembered Silly’s nagging last time.

She had criticized him for spending too much money on a single statue.

Of course, the production cost was entirely covered by the money Deus had earned and the money he would earn in the future, so it was within a manageable budget.

There was no need to be nagged by Silly.

However, as Deus loved his younger sister dearly, he was sensitive to her every word.

This time, too, he cautiously watched her reaction.

Even last time, when he couldn’t resist and tried to make an additional statue blueprint, he got a harsher look and even broke out in a small sweat.

“…This blueprint is good.”

“…?”

At the continued voice, his face was full of questions.

Because an entirely unexpected word had popped out of Silly’s mouth.

But only for a moment.

“Ah.”

Deus had a realization.

Silly was no longer the Silly of old.

She had been saved by Him.

Just like himself.

Recalling that fact, a slow smile spread across Deus’s lips.

Which meant that his beloved younger sister now shared his thoughts.

“Is that so? It’s not completely finished yet, though.”

“Even considering that, I think it’s very well done.”

“I see.”

Deus felt pleased as he looked at Silly, who now shared the same hobby(?).

A conversation that flowed naturally like water.

For a moment, he was moved, thinking this was true sibling affection.

“Um, but I think this part needs more detail. For example, like this. Yes, yes, make the coat a bit longer.”

“Oh-ho, I see.”

“And the eyes need to be fixed a bit too. Not diamonds, but they need to be expressed delicately, brother. The Marquis has blue eyes, so instead of implementing it like this, you should craft the gem more finely-“

“…Silly?”

Deus sensed it.

“Why?”

“…I know that part too, but the realistic aspect is-“

“Are you planning to make the statue ‘roughly’ because of that realistic aspect?”

“Uh, well-“

“This part needs to go up a bit more. The horn should point upwards more. It would be nice if it were made of gold.”

“…Gold? Hmm- That would be nice, but due to budget issues, we’ll have to use something else-“

“Gold.”

“…Huh?”

“It has to be gold.”

“No, the budget-“

“Gold.”

“…Budget.”

“Gold.”

It was definitely the younger sibling who had pointed out spending that money on a statue.

Yet, with a very stern and serious expression, he repeatedly declared, “Gold.”

“…Gold, got it.”

“Yes.”

Deus realized that Silly had changed.