I Became the Patron of Villains

13. Job Hunting (3)

Only four years left until the start of the original work.

At the same time, it had been one year and one month since all five sins in the orphanage had become independent.

‘What is Seolang doing?’

Alon, who was reading the letter from Utia as usual, suddenly became curious about Seolang.

Utia’s letters always included her stories as well as the stories of the other five great sins, but since about two months after their separation, there had not been a single mention of Seolang.

‘…No way, did she die a dog’s death?’

After pondering for a moment, Alon shook his head firmly.

According to the letters he had received from Utia, Seolang had already arrived in the desert nation, and if she had followed the contents of the letters well, there was no way she would have died a dog’s death.

The gift Alon had given her was supposed to make her a splendid ‘Baba Yaga’.

A gladiator in the colony who could obtain everything if she was strong.

‘It was even mentioned in the item description. It must be true, right?’

Thanks to the manufacturer who liked to write various etcetera in the world view in the item descriptions, Alon recalled the phrase written in the item description that Seolang would obtain.

‘If the sin of greed had obtained it, it would not have become a sin of corruption but a great Langin… was it?’

Of course, the effect Alon could get when he used that item was just a 20% increase in critical hit rate, but since there was such a great backstory, he told Seolang the location of the item.

In addition, considering the possibility that the item description might really be nothing special, he also wrote down the location of the hidden treasure for her.

But it had already been nine months without any news.

‘…Should I have just quietly given her the treasure?’

While thinking about that for a moment, Alon shook his head briefly.

The reason he sent Seolang to the colony in the first place was because of the narration that she had the talent of a warrior.

Moreover, since Alon could not support her for life, it was a very necessary process for her to become independent.

‘No, I need to be reassured that she can live on her own.’

Therefore.

‘…Considering Deus’s ridiculous talent, Seolang would never have died a dog’s death… What on earth is going on?’

While Alon was pondering Seolang’s whereabouts with a strange expression.

In the southern part of the desert nation Colony, at the eastern end of the continent, inside a desert cave.

“Phew-”

A girl walked out.

The girl’s appearance was filthy.

Dirty dust was clinging to her body here and there, and her hair had grown so long that it covered her tail.

However, contrary to her appearance, a deep smile was etched on Seolang’s face.

“It’s finally over-”

Stretching with a sense of liberation, she soon looked at the gloves on her hands.

A gift from the great moon, adorned with golden claws.

The ‘Essence of the Golden Mane Tribe.’

‘How does the great moon know where this is?’

As she emerged from the ‘trial,’ curiosity welled up within her. She looked down at her gloves, tilting her head in genuine wonder.

It was no surprise, for this ‘Essence of the Golden Mane Tribe’ was a legendary item passed down through her tribe for generations.

An item truly worthy of the name ‘legend.’

Hundreds of years ago, it had enabled the Golden Mane Tribe to become kings among the beastfolk, granting them the power to bestow strength upon their kin.

Of course, most of these stories were told to her by her mother when she was very young, so Seolang, now older, thought there might be some exaggeration in those old tales.

But at this moment, as she donned the essence and was instantly drawn into her inner world, undergoing all the trials and emerging victorious, she realized.

Those seemingly absurd folktales were not lies.

Ssssss-

As she gently drew out her power, her golden eyes began to glow faintly in the dark cave.

And that wasn’t all.

Her hair and tail, too, began to shine as if they themselves were imbued with light.

Just like the Golden Mane Tribe from the old stories her mother used to tell.

Smiling at her newfound strength, her thoughts turned once again to the great moon.

There were many things she was curious about.

But she soon dismissed those questions.

She knew she wasn’t smart enough to deduce why the great moon knew these things.

More importantly, she realized one simple, clear fact.

The great moon was her savior, having rescued her from dying in a biological experiment, and the one who had given her the power to avenge her parents’ death at the hands of the ‘black dragon.’

As she maintained her power, blue electricity crackled around Seolang. She thought of the great moon’s command but shook her head.

Even if she wasn’t very smart, she knew that the great moon’s will was not just for her to become a gladiator.

So, as she pondered, her gaze naturally fell upon the gloves.

The gloves that granted the power to the Golden Mane Tribe.

“!”

Seeing them, Seolang finally understood the great moon’s will.

‘To become a famous gladiator, gather the scattered Golden Mane Tribe from all over the land, and revive them. And-‘

She grinned.

‘-to slay the black dragon with that power.’

Seollang smiled at the perfect answer that anyone could see.

Crackle-!

Blue sparks flew in all directions according to her emotions, but she didn’t care.

Instead, she took steps to leave the dark cave with a deep smile, and where she exited the cave, the moon was rising.

A blue moon that covered the entire desert in blue light.

And.

“Everything is for Him.”

Uttering the sentence that had become a habit from saying it so often.

“Let’s begin.”

500 years ago, the Golden Mane Tribe, known as the great beastmen and simultaneously the king of all beastmen, began to prepare for resurrection under the blue moon.

With golden eyes.

Since returning from the ball, that is, starting a year ago, Alon had been enjoying exploring phrases and spending a lot of time on it.

Unlike in the game, where reciting phrases consumed a turn and increased magical attack power by 10% to 20% with each passing turn, phrases changed the nature of magic as expected.

To explain with examples of the phrases Alon used a few months ago to obtain restrictions: Refraction, Repulsion, Blue Light, and Diffraction Line.

Refraction strengthened the imperfection of completed magic to spread the range.

Repulsion crushed the form of magic to transfer the launched projectile.

In the case of Blue Light, it enhanced magic performed in parallel, like electric magic.

Lastly, the Diffraction Line granted penetration, that is, critical hits, to the magic itself.

Of course, his interpretation was based on information accumulated through half a year of experiments, so it was uncertain how accurate it was, but it was clear that each phrase imparted different properties.

He had also figured out a few of the unique rules of phrases.

‘You must not use the same phrase repeatedly, you must not use phrases that do not match the magic, and you cannot use more than five phrases. If you break these three rules, the magic will either not be implemented or be weakened.’

There seemed to be a few more rules, but he hadn’t figured them out yet.

Although Alon had plenty of time to explore magic, he could only use magic once a day.

‘…It would be nice if there were a book about phrases.’

The phrases Alon used were, according to the setting, the forgotten phrases of Babylon, considered knowledge akin to OOPArts in this world.

The places where Alon knew the phrases were written only had the phrases, without explaining their rules or phenomena.

In other words, he had to gain knowledge by directly confronting it, but Alon didn’t find that inconvenient.

Alon’s talent made exploring phrases enjoyable and immersing himself in the exploration of magic.

Therefore, after finishing his conversation with Evan, he came to the training ground today and cast magic without hesitation.

“Whew-”

His hand forms the familiar mudra of the Wisdom Fist Seal.

Simultaneously, the magic that gathers is the second-tier spell he has been experimenting with for about two months, ‘Chain Lightning’.

According to Alon’s thoughts, the magic arranged in parallel forms a spherical orb, and he deliberately removes a specific point to create an imbalance.

Crackle-

With that, the spell is complete.

The magic, realized with Alon’s meager mana, emits a faint light.

The only improvement from two months ago is that, perhaps due to his familiarity with electric magic, the crackling caused by the imbalance of mana is slightly better implemented.

To put it nicely, it has become more refined; to put it bluntly, it is a useless spell that is only refined.

However.

By chanting the incantation, the useless spell gains purpose.

“Fixate (固定)”

The lightning, realized before him, stops crackling as if time has frozen the moment he chants the incantation.

“Compress (壓縮)”

With the next muttering, the orb, which was about the size of a large sphere, shrinks to the size of a small bead while remaining in its fixed state.

“Collapse (崩壞)”

Crash-!

With the next incantation, the spell, which had just been in the form of a small bead, loses its spherical shape.

What remains before him is the pure form of lightning.

Fragments of mana, gathered like thousands of irregular dotted lines, manifest before Alon.

And then.

“Momentary Full Bloom (滿開)”

As Alon mutters the final incantation and releases the Wisdom Fist Seal he was forming-

Crackle-!

-A gigantic tree of thunder manifests before him.

The blue tree, formed with a brilliance more dazzling than the midday sun, stops in its form, flaunting its majesty.

It remains as if the lightning strike has been frozen in place.

Alon nods in approval.

‘…The order of the incantations changes the realization of the spell.’

Alon nods in satisfaction, recalling how the spell vanished emptily when he used collapse before fixation yesterday.

‘Even if the phrase doesn’t match the magic, can it be used if there is a preceding phrase?’

Satisfied with the new information, Alon nodded while confirming that the conjured tree of thunder was slowly disappearing.

‘…Though, I don’t think I’ll have any use for it.’

Muttering to himself, he turned away from the now empty mana hole, feeling a sense of regret as it seemed unlikely to be useful as an attack spell.

Alon’s body only allowed him to use magic once a day.

And at that moment, as he turned his body.

“?”

Alon saw her.

With a surprised expression, staring at him, was Lady Kalia of the Zenonia Count’s family, someone he absolutely did not want to get close to, standing right there in the training ground of the Palatio Count’s family.

She seemed so shocked by the current situation that her usually noble demeanor was replaced by a rare sight of her mouth agape.

“Th-this can’t be…?”

At her following words, he turned his gaze away, missing the timing to ask why she was there.

“Origin, you say?”

There stood an unknown middle-aged man, holding an ornate staff, his mouth also agape in shock, just like Kalia.

And.

“?”

Alon, too, was confused as he looked at the two of them.

‘Why are they here…??’

Hearing the man mention ‘Origin,’ a unique magic that only those who reached the 7th rank of a mage could use, Alon realized one thing.

That he was being terribly misunderstood.