I Became the Patron of Villains

143. Exploration (3)

The space was alien.

Despite it being midday, the sky was dark and gloomy.

The ground beneath was not ordinary terrain.

It was as hard as the earth, but composed of a rough, unyielding shell that did not scatter.

And on that mysterious ground stood a temple.

Not an ordinary one, but a temple built of black bricks that matched the dark sky, standing proudly.

And inside it.

There were two figures.

It was impossible to discern their exact appearances.

The two figures sat facing each other at a black round table in the center of the temple, their bodies hidden by robes as if to conceal their identities.

The difference between the two was that one was wrapped in bandages even under the robe.

The other had human-like lips visible beneath the shadow of the robe.

The first to break the silence was.

“I can’t grasp how long this will go on.”

It was the figure with visible lips.

He continued speaking, as if deeply dissatisfied with the situation.

“Look, ‘Wrath’. Isn’t this a waste of time? Let’s finish this quickly. We can handle it ourselves without involving them, can’t we?”

The other figure, who had been silent, responded in a voice that was both leisurely and impatient.

“What can we do? ‘Pride’.”

‘Wrath’s voice was different from ‘Pride’s.

Pride had a clear male voice, but Wrath’s was not.

It was a distorted voice, making it difficult to tell if it was a man, woman, old, or young.

Yet, Pride continued the conversation as if it were nothing.

“What else? Destruction. Honestly, if all of us ‘Apostles’ moved, it would be over. The ones outside are just fools who think they’re strong and complacent.”

Wrath, who had been staring intently at Pride’s fierce smile beneath the robe, replied.

“There might be those who aren’t.”

“Do you really think we, who have received power from the Great Original Sin, will be defeated by those guys?”

“…Pride, we just need to do our job.”

“Ha, the only thing we do is sit around. How long do you plan to keep this up? All we’ve done is plant the ‘seeds’ and wait for over ten years because of that strange barrier that recently disappeared.”

Pride sighed, as if displeased with the current situation, and stood up.

“Where are you going, Pride?”

“Where do you think? Since you guys won’t move, I will.”

“…I don’t recall giving you permission?”

A retort of anger.

Pride, who had been wearing a dark smile until just a moment ago.

!

The next moment, he was standing in front of Anger.

Crackle-!

At the same time, a chilling black lightning fell from the sky.

The black lightning, divided into dozens, hundreds of strands, stopped above Anger’s head.

That’s not all.

The intact black temple turned into a devastating ruin in an instant due to Pride’s sin.

At some point, Pride, who had climbed onto the round table, extended his hand towards Anger’s face, and lightning crackled from it.

“…I don’t think you were ever my superior, ‘Anger’.”

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“……”

A chilling expression, a cold voice.

But Anger did not respond.

He just looked up at Pride.

“Tsk.”

After maintaining the standoff for a while, Pride eventually withdrew the lightning and turned around.

“Where are you going?”

Anger asked calmly.

Pride, as if nothing had happened, returned to a leisurely demeanor.

“Since you guys won’t do it, I have to. I don’t know what the other apostles, including you, are thinking, but I want to meet Him as soon as possible. So-“

A sly smile.

“I’m going to retrieve the seeds.”

Once again, he wore a deep smile.

Pride, who walked out of the temple without hesitation, took off his hood.

As soon as he removed the hood, what was revealed was silver-gray hair and a pair of ears visible between the hair.

“So-“

He slowly stroked his chin as he headed towards the exterior of the black temple.

“-Has it been 10 years? No, it’s been 12 years.”

He muttered to himself and let out a small laugh.

Soon, a strange light ripened in his eyes.

“Shall I see how well the seed, no- my brother, has grown?”

Muttering so, he disappeared from the spot.

Crackle-!

Leaving behind a streak of black lightning.

####

It has been about three weeks since he made a peculiar contract with Fenia Crysinne.

“Ah, seeing the way the magic array changes in this part, it seems to bend like this.”

“That means-“

“It’s amplification.”

“Indeed.”

Alon was currently in a very pleasant state.

The magical research he was conducting with Fenia was going extremely well.

It wasn’t just going well.

“Then this is-“

“Ah, seeing the array change to a decomposition structure, it seems to be reduction rather than amplification.”

“Intentionally reducing the power?”

“Yes, but the molecular structure of the magic is intertwined… It seems to be a hook structure. In this case, even magic that cannot be used in combination might be usable in a limited way.”

It was bringing much greater value than when he explored magic alone.

Thanks to that, Alon, who had been engaged in magical research and discussion for almost five hours today.

“…Let’s call it a day.”

“Ah, yes…!”

Seeing Fenia nodding her head enthusiastically, he felt anew.

‘Who would call this person a sociopath?’

Around the time of reevaluation.

“Sister.”

“What is it?”

“The magical potion that was coming this way was robbed by bandits.”

“What? Those damn bandits again-!!!!”

As soon as she heard her brother Pellin’s report, she screamed, “Kiyaaah!!!” and hurriedly withdrew her opinion.

‘…That is true.’

“Marquis?”

“What is it?”

“Excuse me, but can I go out of the Marquis’ house for a day…!”

Penia asked with a tense expression, as if asking for a great favor.

Alon nodded lightly.

“…I don’t mind?”

“Oh, really…! I just heard that the magical potion coming this way was robbed by bandits, so I wanted to-”

Despite Alon’s indifferent reaction, she began to explain in detail.

She thought they had developed some camaraderie while researching magic together, but even now, she was struggling to say a single word.

Alon felt awkward for no reason.

“…Go ahead. And you don’t need to ask for my permission to leave here.”

“Oh, really…!? I thought I definitely had to…”

“…”

Penia, shrinking and hesitating.

Alon once again felt like a criminal who was exploiting coding slaves somewhere in Southeast Asia.

“That’s not the case, so go ahead.”

“Oh, yes…!”

Penia Crysinne immediately grabbed Pellin by the scruff of his neck and strode out.

“Why me…”

Pellin’s strangely sorrowful voice echoed, but he was helplessly dragged away by Penia.

A moment later.

“Marquis.”

“Why is that?”

“No, it just seems like we finished a bit early today.”

“Well, today was a cleanup period.”

After responding to Evan, Alon looked down at the paper.

The bundle of papers was filled with numerous handprints.

There were the prints Alon had known until now, the prints discovered during the exploration with Fenia, and the abilities, arrangements, and applications of other prints.

“Wow, did you do all that in just three weeks?”

“Yes.”

“…There really is a lot.”

Evan’s mouth gaped open.

Alon shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s not finished yet.”

“With this much, it’s still not done?”

“Yes.”

He looked down at the paper again.

What he had been able to ascertain over the past three weeks was the path of magic power movement and the arrangement of magic power according to the prints.

But the more important realization was separate.

It was the structural change of magic molecules according to the prints.

The real clue to the multi-print he had been thinking about could also be found there.

Until now, if more than one print was applied to a single magic, it mostly failed to materialize or the magic itself was ruined.

It was the same when he started exploring prints in earnest after hearing from Linisius that multiple prints could be used.

However, recently, although it was a very small clue, Alon discovered that there were prints that fit together in the changing magic combination structure according to the prints.

And that the combined prints took on a completely different structure than before.

“…There’s still a lot to do.”

Contrary to his indifferent voice, he scanned the research journal with a satisfied look in his eyes.

Until now, he hadn’t understood.

Why the wizards in novels would walk into hellish situations just to obtain a single research journal.

Now, he seemed to understand.

“But Marquis, aren’t you leaving soon?”

At that moment, Evan’s voice broke his reverie.

“Where to?”

“To Lartania. Didn’t you say you’d visit last time? You also mentioned you had to go to Colony.”

“Ah, that’s right.”

“And didn’t you send a letter as well?”

“Ah.”

Alon nodded unconsciously.

Yes, when he had just started his research with Fenia, he had sent a letter to Line and Seolang saying he would visit soon.

He only remembered that now.

“…They should be arriving soon as well.”

“Then we should get moving.”

‘…First, I’ll finish this and prepare something for Fenia to do.’

He added, looking at the magic journal in his hand with a regretful expression.

“…Let’s depart in two days.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

####

The desert city of Colony.

Unlike the always bustling streets filled with the heat of the Colosseum, Seolang’s office was quiet.

Except when training guild members, Seolang would sleep if there was nothing else to do.

He had never deviated from that pattern until now.

That’s why Lime, the golden-maned assistant who also served as Seolang’s secretary, found Seolang’s current appearance unfamiliar.

She, who should have been lazily sprawled out, was quite excited after receiving some letter.

“Guild Master?”

“Yes?”

“You seem excited.”

“Of course!”

“…May I ask why?”

She was curious.

What kind of letter could make her hold it so dearly and perk up her ears like that?

Seolang, who had been looking down at the letter for a moment, soon-

“It’s time to get an answer!”

“Answer…?”

“Yes! The master promised to do it! Two years ago!”

A bright light bloomed on his face.

Behind Lime, the secretary, who was even more bewildered by the incomprehensible answer that lacked all the important elements.

“I hope they come quickly-“

Seollang let out a bashful smile.

Wagging his golden tail enthusiastically.