I Became the Patron of Villains

16. Blue Tower (2)

The status of wizards on this continent has a rather peculiar structure.

Like other fantasy worlds, the status of wizards is generally high, but wizards belonging to the ‘tower’ have a status comparable to that of nobles once they surpass a certain hierarchy.

The reason is not only because of the difference in skills between wizards inside and outside the tower but fundamentally because of the tower itself.

There are only six towers in this world, and they monopolize the production of various goods needed by the United Kingdom, including high-ranking nobles.

In other words, the independent production of necessary goods, along with the combat power of wizards, elevates the power of the tower to the authority of the nobility.

And the authority of the Deputy Tower Master, who can be said to be the sub-owner of such a tower, is known to pierce the sky.

…Even knowing this.

‘Isn’t this treatment a bit harsh?’

Alon looked at the Deputy Tower Master with an absurd, yet deeply expressionless face.

Draped in a blue cloak, symbolic of the Blue Tower, and with blue hair that reached her waist.

With one hand propping her chin as if everything in the world was a bother, and the other holding a pen, her name was ‘Pheniah Crysinne.’

In Psychedelia, she was a wizard who appeared once or twice in the main story, a genius with absurd talent who reached the 7th rank at the young age of 22, and a powerful wizard with an Origin.

…Of course, at this point before the original story began, she had not yet become the Tower Master and seemed to be at the 6th rank, not the 7th.

“…As I mentioned before we met earlier, I came to talk about the Simun.”

“What kind of story?”

Without even looking this way, Pheniah continued to wrestle with the piled-up documents as Alon spoke.

“I can eliminate the Simun.”

At Alon’s words, Pheniah’s gaze momentarily shifted, her hysterical eyes staring intently at his face.

A look of slight curiosity.

But shortly after, she made a blatantly disappointed expression and clicked her tongue.

With an attitude that anyone could see was dismissive, Pheniah lowered her head and spoke.

“If you’re done talking, you can leave.”

“…I didn’t hear an answer?”

“What answer?”

“I said I can eliminate the Simun.”

“Ha.”

At Alon’s words, Pheniah laughed incredulously and looked at Alon as she spoke.

“Excuse me. Who did you say you were?”

“Count Palatio, Alon.”

“So, our Count Palatio can eliminate the Simun?”

“Yes.”

“Oh, really~ Our Count Palatio can eliminate the Simun?”

“…Why are you acting like that?”

Alon asked, puzzled by the blatant sarcasm.

“Excuse me, do you think you’re the only one? Do you think you’re the only one who comes here wanting to eliminate the Simun and get the treasure? Huh?”

Shaking her head left and right as if she was very tired of it, Pheniah spoke.

“It’s not a lie. If you guide me to the Simun, I’ll show you right away.”

“How many people do you think have said that in front of me?”

“I can definitely eliminate it.”

Alon’s words.

In response, Penia, who had been holding her pen until just a moment ago, suddenly dropped it with a clatter and openly frowned, scattering her magical power abruptly.

Crackle-!

It wasn’t the manifestation of magic.

This was merely a wave of magical power.

A waveform that was blatantly and haphazardly scattered according to her emotional state.

Yet, even so, that waveform began to cause anomalies within the office in an instant.

As if an earthquake had struck, the entire office shook, and the scrolls and parchments placed on the shelves fell off in an instant.

In that situation.

“Excuse me.”

“I understand that you need a big move to overturn things, as it’s starting to come to light that you luckily became a count because the trash died at the right time. But you shouldn’t cause such a ruckus here, should you?”

Hearing Penia speak in a low voice filled with hysteria, Alon suddenly realized two things.

The first was that, despite seemingly being surrounded by work, she was surprisingly well-informed about the outside world.

In fact, as she said, since becoming a count, Alon had been living quietly without interfering with the underworld, so such rumors had started to circulate about him.

And the other thing was that the anger that had surged up, making it seem impossible to endure her treatment just a moment ago, had subsided as if it had been healed.

‘Scary.’

Despite not having reached the 7th rank, Alon realized anew that she was a superhuman who had easily transcended the realm of humans, merely by scattering her magical power and causing such anomalies.

‘I shouldn’t mess with her, or I’ll be folded in half.’

Although he was a 2nd rank mage, Alon was fully aware that even if this magical power was merely implemented by Penia, his life would be in danger, and he spoke.

“If you don’t trust me, I’ll bet my entire fortune.”

“…What?”

Despite feeling fear, Alon still maintained an expressionless face without any change.

“It’s exactly as I said. If I can’t eliminate Simon, I’ll donate my entire fortune to the Blue Tower. No, since this is a personal transaction, I’ll hand it all over directly.”

“…What nonsense.”

“Of course, you don’t need to bet anything. I’ll be the only one to bet. If necessary, I’ll even swear an oath.”

“…”

At Alon’s words, Penia frowned, but he continued to speak with an unchanging expression.

“This seems like a pretty good condition for you to spend a little time, doesn’t it?”

After a moment of silence, Penia spoke.

“Write up the contract.”

Answered.

Penia Crysinne.

At the mere age of 21, she had reached the 6th rank, a prodigy without equal, and was following her master, the tower lord of the Blue Magic Tower, as the deputy tower lord. She descended underground and stood before the door where Simon was, looking at Alon.

“Here it is. If you open this door and go in, you’ll find Simon.”

Without hesitation, Alon moved his body and grabbed the doorknob at her words.

“Remember, I won’t go easy on you just because we signed a contract. If you fail, the entire fortune of the Count’s family will be mine. Got it?”

Penia warned, but Alon turned his head slightly to look at her.

His emotionless eyes, which felt nothing, glanced at her and spoke.

“That won’t happen.”

Creak-

With those words, he opened the door and entered without hesitation. Watching his back, Penia recalled the evaluations of Alon that were circulating in society.

In the past, he was known as the dark hand of the Count’s family, who killed all the heirs and became the Count.

But his evaluation had changed significantly over the past three years.

In fact, everything was just a coincidence, and he was a lucky guy who became the Count by default after the heirs died.

Of course, there were still rumors that he had a reason for not being active, but Penia, who had faced him directly, thought the rumors were closer to the latter.

‘Judging by the atmosphere alone, he might be first-rate, but coming here to close Simon in that state is the end.’

Penia also knew that the atmosphere Alon exuded was unusual.

Lifeless eyes.

A face so thoroughly devoid of emotion that it was hard to believe he was a normal human.

For a moment, even she was silenced, but it was just the atmosphere. Having confirmed his talent, Penia couldn’t help but laugh.

‘He has talent. But it’s just a bit better than others in terms of sensory perception. His mana hole is excessively small, and his rank is barely at the end of the 2nd rank. He doesn’t even have the ‘eye’ essential to reach the 6th rank.’

Count Palatio had no talent to speak of.

He didn’t have the ‘eye,’ a talent essential to becoming a high-ranking mage, nor did he have a vast amount of mana.

His magical rank was only at the 2nd rank, and although his sensory perception was good, that was all.

Sensory perception, among the many talents a mage must have, didn’t rank very high.

In the end, Penia thought that coming here confidently to eliminate Simon with such talent only proved that the rumors were closer to the latter, so she made a disdainful expression and soon saw the ‘rift’ glowing with purple light in the middle of the room.

The rift, called Simon (時門) among mages, was literally connected to a subspace of unknown origin, a very troublesome phenomenon.

Simons, created in places where mages often gathered, or more precisely, where magic was frequently used, caused a lot of damage to the surroundings.

For example, beings from another world might come through the rift, or it might suddenly absorb the surrounding mana indiscriminately, creating a mana vacuum in the entire space.

‘Thanks to that, I heard that in the beginning, they tried various methods to erase the sigil.’

As far as Fenia knew, not a single magician had succeeded in erasing a sigil so far.

‘If they had continued researching the sigil to some extent, there would have been a sufficient probability of finding a way to eliminate it eventually.’

At least for now, that method did not exist.

In the first place, even if a sigil suddenly appeared, it would naturally spit out a relic and disappear after about a month to three months.

Although the principle behind it had not yet been identified, magicians did not bother to spend a long time and money researching a method that was not even graspable because of it.

…However, in the case of the Blue Tower, the sigil, which was thought to disappear in a few months, had already been causing trouble for more than two years in the basement of the tower without disappearing.

Fenia, thinking such thoughts, stared intently at Alon, who had approached the sigil without taking any action.

Alon, who was doing nothing despite the passage of time.

At that, Fenia clicked her tongue and was about to open her mouth.

Tap-

Alon formed a seal.

“?”

Fenia raised her hand abruptly and formed the Wisdom Fist Seal, looking at him with a slightly curious expression.

Using his hand as a medium instead of a staff, a method referred to as ‘primitive’ in ancient magic books, which was not even treated in academia-

-No, because she had only seen magicians using such methods in books.

“Just come out.”

But it was just interesting, Fenia had no intention of giving Alon any more time.

She did not even think that someone who had not properly learned magic and used primitive methods from strange books would close the sigil.

However-

“───”

The moment he muttered something softly.

“Ah, just come ou-”

Fenia’s annoyed mouth stopped.

No, it wasn’t just her mouth.

Everything just stopped.

The mouth that had been opening until a moment ago.

The eyes that had been frowning in annoyance.

The body.

Even breathing.

Stopped.

And then.

She saw it.

The thing that appeared before the Count.

Squelch-

The place where Penia’s gaze met directly, which had been only darkness, opened with an unpleasant sound.

Upon realizing, it was an eye.

An eye with two red rings.

Just, looking like that.

If it had ended there, it would have been fine.

But-

“-”

Penia’s talent, the ‘eye’ that she must possess to rise above the 6th rank, instinctively grasped its essence.

She doesn’t know what it is.

But she grasps it.

With that, Penia realized one piece of information.

It was a word, so simple in itself.

It was──────

“Ugh-!”

The moment she tried to realize it, Penia halted.

Her magic, which had even stopped her breathing, instinctively moved to cut off her thoughts.

Because she knew.

That thing, the thing that appeared before the Count, was something that must never be realized.

The moment it was realized, it was like a poisoned chalice destined for ruin.

So, the moment she barely managed to stop her thoughts, even forgetting to breathe.

Heh-

The eye that had been staring at her until just a moment ago smiled.

And then, with a black hand that had appeared out of nowhere, it quietly raised its index and middle fingers and brought them to Penia’s lips.

Absolute silence.

Understanding that this was Alon’s demand, Penia blinked with eyes full of fear, and as the eye disappeared, the magic ended.

Alon let out a light sigh as the purple rift disappeared.

‘It’s over.’

For Alon, who had closed the rift several times in the game and knew how to do it, closing the rift wasn’t actually that difficult.

After all, the rift wasn’t closed with magic but with special items and methods.

However, to deceive Fenia, Alon had used a plausible magic spell among those he had used so far, as there were still a few items to be obtained through the rift.

“…?”

While picking up the relic and turning his gaze, he made a puzzled expression.

Fenia’s appearance seemed a bit strange.

As if she had seen something she should never have seen.

Alon, who was bewildered by her expression, wondered if she had discovered the method to close the rift and was about to speak with an embarrassed look for failing to bluff.

“I-I swear I won’t tell anyone.”

“…? Well, thank you, but there’s no need to-“

“N-No, I absolutely won’t tell anyone. I may look like this, but I’m quite tight-lipped.”

Suddenly, as she breathed roughly and nodded her head vigorously while even using honorifics, Alon.

“…?”

‘Why is she acting like this all of a sudden…?’

He couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion.