I Became the Patron of Villains

Chapter 144

144. Towards the Colony (1)

Luxible is a small principality bordering the mysterious jungle of Ronovelli, a place where only a few territories are combined.

Even though it is called a principality, its power is far weaker compared to other member states of the United Kingdom.

Is that all?

In fact, most of the costs of running the Principality of Luxible came from one place, the Castlelot at the border of the mysterious jungle Ronovelli.

Of course, the taxes from there were quite substantial, but it wasn’t enough to fulfill the grand ambitions of the 7th King Pamillono.

Pamillono harbored even greater ambitions than his father, the 6th King.

He intended to grow his principality into a great and grand nation that could be called a country like any other.

In ‘theory’, it was quite possible.

As a member of the United Kingdom, and with territorial wars or wars between countries prohibited, it was impossible to expand territory through war, but it was possible to buy territories with money.

If they really needed territory, they could go south.

To the south were the lands of different races that were not part of the United Kingdom.

But unfortunately… it was close to an unattainable dream in reality.

First of all, it took a lot of money to buy territories.

It meant that an enormous amount of money was needed, enough to empty the national treasury and potentially dismantle the principality.

Another way was to wage war against different races to gain territory, but unfortunately, they were not easy enough to be defeated by the principality’s forces.

The reason the United Kingdom tolerated the territories of different races, unlike the barbarians who invaded the inland, was also because of that.

But above all, the reason why the grand ambition of the 7th King could only remain an ambition was corruption.

Yes. Corruption.

Unfortunately, even the few small territories of the Principality of Luxible were very corrupt.

If you ask how corrupt.

A simple example is that the forces of the grand dukes were much larger than the kingdom’s soldiers.

That’s why he worried from the moment he ascended the throne as a puppet king.

How could he break through this hopeless, dreamless situation?

After much deliberation, an opportunity came to him.

A deal with the devil.

No, in fact, the word “devil” is not the right expression.

What proposed to him was a human.

However, he thought of it as “shaking hands with the devil” because their proposal was so sweet.

Moreover, there was no particular loss for him.

Anyway, if he stayed like this, he would be forced to marry, have descendants, and face the risk of being poisoned like his father.

The life of a scarecrow king.

He decided to take their hand, thinking he had nothing to lose.

So he didn’t have high expectations.

It was practically his last desperate struggle.

But today.

Tap-tap-!

Pamillono received the result.

“……”

He blankly looked down.

There were the heads of old humans – no, from Pamillono’s perspective, pigs that deserved to be chewed to death.

The heads of Grand Duke Richftern and Grand Duke Beaufort.

Pamillono raised his gaze.

There was a girl.

A girl clad in white leather, holding a spear dripping with blood –

“……Is it real?”

“You can check if you want. It’s right in front of you.”

As the quick-witted Circal swung the spear and tapped the two heads, Pamillono swallowed hard.

“……There’s no need to go that far.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, I could never forget the faces of those b*stards even in my dreams.”

“That’s a relief. Oh, just in case you’re wondering, we’ve also taken care of their soldiers, so don’t worry.”

“……Is that true?”

“There is no need to tell lies.”

“Indeed.”

The voice of an emotionless girl.

Pamilono let out a deep sigh and stared intently at the rolling head.

“Yes, since you have obtained what you wanted, you must pay the price. Was it two things? Tell me what you desire.”

As he said those words, Pamilono’s expression grew tense.

When he first received the proposal from the girl before him, he hadn’t particularly worried about the price.

He didn’t think this girl could really kill the two grand dukes.

But now it had become reality.

Therefore, he resolved to pay any price.

“I would like you to give us a place for our tribe to live.”

“…Are you asking for a territory?”

“It doesn’t have to be grand. Just give us about half of the land where this pig was dealt with.”

“…I will accept.”

The first request was not as enormous as he had thought.

Pamilono was a bit bewildered, but only for a moment.

“The second request is the most important.”

“…Speak.”

From noble mtl dot com

At the following words, he tensed up again.

“Make our god the state religion.”

“…A god, you say?”

“Yes. Make the god we believe in the state religion and erect statues of it throughout the territory. Those are the two conditions.”

The seventh king replied.

“That is not difficult.”

“That’s a relief.”

Of course, since the Holy Kingdom of Rosario existed, it was a bit concerning, but Luxible had already withdrawn from the Holy Kingdom long ago.

Even if Sironia was not made the state religion now, there would be no problem.

Pamilono nodded, and the girl—no, the swift Sircal—gestured lightly towards somewhere.

Then, from the darkness, another girl, Jeniraganatana, handed a statue to Pamilono.

“…This is.”

“This is the statue of the god we serve.”

The statue took the form of a man whose face was shrouded in shadows.

A man with a dark coat billowing and holding a lightning bolt in one hand.

“…What is the name of this god?”

Pamillon, who was staring at the statue, asked.

“He is the only god of our Thunder Serpent, our savior-”

Jenny, as if she had been waiting, smiled with her eyes,

“The one who receives the lightning, Lord Kalanon.”

She proclaimed the name.

A small fanaticism flowed from her eyes.

####

Fenian Crysinne had been very happy recently.

…Of course, there were times when she wasn’t, but mostly she was.

It was because she had received an unexpectedly good offer from the Marquis’ house, where she had gone to confess, fearing for her life.

In exchange for helping the Marquis Palatio with his magical research, she was given the very good condition of being able to learn magic from Heinkel without having to hide their relationship.

It was a very happy situation for her with nothing to lose.

Of course, she had to continue helping with the magical research at the Marquis’ house, which might never end, but that wasn’t a big problem.

The point was that she could learn magic from Heinkel without any trouble.

That was extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely, extremely important.

Although she was a bit afraid of the Marquis’ back, his magical research support was quite interesting.

His magic was of a kind she had never seen before.

Naturally, the magic of Alon, which did not belong to any hierarchy, greatly stimulated the curiosity of Fenian, a magic fanatic.

She had fun exploring magic for a while.

At some point, she could even subtly meet the eyes behind the Marquis.

Of course, the research time wasn’t that long.

Unfortunately, the ‘person’ the Marquis Palatio requested help from could only be used by him.

She wondered for a moment why the Marquis Palatio, who had a higher magical aptitude than herself, asked her for help with his research.

She was puzzled for a moment but soon shook her head.

She decided not to harbor any more unnecessary doubts about the Marquis.

After all, what was important to her was Heinkel’s magic, and it was enough to satisfy her curiosity by helping with the Marquis’ research.

Anyway, the goal was achieved, and recent life had been quite satisfying.

…Yes, until a few days ago when Marquis Palatio left, saying he would be back shortly.

“Ahhh!!!!!!”

“Eek-“

Penia screamed.

It was a chilling scream that made Pellin, who was timidly flipping through the journal beside her, unconsciously hold his breath.

However, she was already staring at the journal with bloodshot eyes, as if the surroundings had turned dark.

The journal described what Alon had discovered in this research, how the magical array structure and molecular structure changed according to the cause and effect.

“This, what the-“

Penia’s hand, holding the thick bundle of papers, began to tremble.

“How, how can I do all this!!”

She screamed again, and soon recalled the conversation she had with Alon a few days ago.

‘Master of the Tower, please take care of this.’

‘Uh… exactly what?’

‘From the results of our research so far, we know that the molecular structure of magic changes into a new form when combined, right?’

‘Yes, yes, that’s right?’

‘While I’m away, could you please organize it briefly?’

‘…All of this?’

‘Yes, it’s not that much, is it?’

‘No, but-‘

‘Do you dislike it?’

It wasn’t a conversation.

It was like a devil disguised as a kind professor… Yes, calmly exploiting a poor student-

Penia closed her eyes tightly and sighed.

Now she realized why he had asked for help with the research.

‘It was because of this…!!’

The laws of molecular structure had already been somewhat revealed, so from now on, it was just a matter of finding out how to fit the structures together.

In other words, this was no longer research but grunt work.

And, a lot of grunt work at that.

Thus.

“Marquis Palatio, you dog—”

Child!!!!

The words were swallowed silently.

“Gwaaah—”

With a grotesque breath, she buried her head into the desk.

Penia, sprawled out.

As if momentarily driven mad, her shoulders trembled.

“I will do it—no matter what.”

With bloodshot eyes.

“I will find a way, I must…!! I will definitely learn magic from Lord Heinkel…!”

Grinding her teeth, she unleashed her magical energy.

“I will do it, I will, I can do it!!!!”

Equipping more than five pens like weapons, she began to scribble frantically on the paper.

“……”

Pellin, cautiously, curled up.

####

At that moment.

‘Is she doing well?’

Alon, munching on sweet potatoes, suddenly thought of Penia.

‘Well, organizing shouldn’t be too difficult.’

The molecular structure he had entrusted to the sub-lord.

‘If I just sort out the first arrangement, it’ll be quicker to weave it together as I implement the rest.’

Unbeknownst to him, Penia was not only organizing the first but also the second and even the third arrangements, as he bit into the sweet potato with a crunch.

Meanwhile.

“Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve heard some rather strange and fascinating news this time.”

“Strange and fascinating news?”

Evan introduced a new topic.

“Yes. I heard that now Rine is the only one left as the senior council member.”

“Why?”

“Well, I don’t know the reason, but they say that a misfortune occurs where all the senior council members die. Thanks to that, Rine is currently the only one serving as the senior council member.”

“…That’s really strange.”

“Right? I think so too.”

A moment of silence.

“…It can’t be, right?”

Alon’s murmur broke the silence.

Evan pondered the meaning of those words for a moment, then laughed.

“Oh, come on – that’s too obvious, isn’t it?”

“…Yeah, I guess so.”

After enduring such conversations for a week, they arrived in Lartania, where Alon met Rine.

“You’ve arrived, godfather?”

“It’s been a while.”

“Please come inside first. It’s starting to get hot outside.”