I Became the Patron of Villains

18. The Blue Tower (4)

It had been a month since Alon returned from the Blue Tower.

“Whew-“

Having obtained the mark of the unclean, Alon could use magic three times a day, and if he managed his mana well, he could use it up to four times. Today, he realized one of the new rules of phrases.

‘Even if the exact same phrase is not overlapped, using a similar phrase can produce an effect similar to overlapping.’

However, he had not yet fully figured out that in order to overlap phrases, a specific phrase had to precede each magic.

‘It seems to be related to the arrangement.’

Alon pondered briefly.

“……The Count’s magic gets stronger the more I see it.”

But before he could answer his question, Evan’s voice interrupted his thoughts, and Alon stopped his musings and replied.

“……Is that so?”

“It’s not just ‘is that so’, look at that.”

Following Evan’s words, Alon turned his gaze and saw that the middle of the training ground was quite widely sunken.

“It doesn’t make sense for a second-tier spell to have that much power, does it? Well, you have always used spells that didn’t seem like second-tier magic, but it feels different now compared to a few months ago.”

At Evan’s words, Alon glanced at the deeply hollowed ground.

‘Indeed, for some reason, I have felt that the magic is getting stronger.’

The magic Alon used in his recent research was Gravity, a second-tier spell that falls under gravity magic.

However, even gravity magic, being second-tier, doesn’t have the power to crush a person to death, and even if the output is increased by narrowing the range, it shouldn’t produce that level of output.

In other words, using Gravity shouldn’t cause the ground to cave in like that.

‘It’s not due to proficiency…’

Of course, as Alon diligently explored magic and increased his proficiency, his magic grew day by day, and its precision increased rapidly.

However, the only thing that proficiency could bring was precise execution and implementation of magic, and nothing else mattered.

‘There is certainly an increase in power due to the phrase, but that’s not it either.’

For the past four months, Alon had been using similar phrases consistently for his research on this overlap, and for the last two weeks, he had almost perfectly alternated between similar phrases.

In other words, Alon had a sample to compare, and when he thought about it in comparison to that sample, his magic was steadily getting stronger.

Very slightly, but if you gathered the samples, it would show a slight upward trend on a graph.

‘It’s not that I’ve become accustomed to using the phrase and its effect has become stronger.’

One of the results Alon discovered through years of researching phrases was that phrases were close to activation words.

The more you memorize the phrases, the more they don’t increase in proficiency or strength, but rather, like pressing a switch, they change or grant a special form to the nature of the magic.

In other words, it didn’t make sense that the power increased due to the proficiency of the phrase, so he considered various possibilities.

‘The reason for suddenly getting stronger in this world… is either receiving faith or the reward of a curse… let’s rule out the former first.’

Although he was a noble, he was only a count of a small kingdom, and at this point, he was even being subtly ignored by the underworld, so it didn’t make sense for him to receive faith.

‘Then the only thing left is… receiving a reward by suffering a specific loss due to a curse.’

Thinking that far, Alon made a grim expression but soon shook his head.

In this world, the reward of a curse ultimately only existed in the form of someone else sacrificing themselves to cast a curse or casting a curse on oneself.

Moreover, curses were rituals used in the East, and among his current connections, there were no people based in the East.

In short, neither the former nor the latter applied to him… Alon reminded himself.

Thus, the conclusion he reached was.

“I guess I’m just in good condition today.”

“…Is that so?”

“That’s right. There’s no reason for my magic to get stronger.”

It was denial.

“…I heard a letter from Utia arrived today, I should go read it.”

Taking advantage of the moment, he turned away from his magical research and headed to his office to read Yutia’s letter.

The Holy Kingdom of Rosario.

Unlike the Holy Theocracy of Vartican beyond the Empire, they worship the goddess Sironia, who symbolizes the moon as the main deity and peace.

And in front of the monastery to the east of Lionel, the capital city where all buildings are made of white and thus called the City of Pure White, stood a holy knight.

His name was Lokro, and he wore platinum plate armor symbolizing pure white, just like the nickname of the capital. He carefully opened the door and entered.

Not long after, in front of the monastery.

He saw a white-haired nun standing in front of the statue of the goddess Sironia.

Dressed in a neat nun’s habit and with a gentle smile on her lips, she did not appear to be a nun of high rank.

In Rosario, those of high rank always wore the cord of holy grace over their shoulders.

Thus, the nun standing before Lokro was clearly of a lower rank than the holy knight Lokro.

“Greetings, Sister.”

But as soon as he saw the nun, he immediately bowed and spoke.

“Hello, Sir Lokro, have you been well?”

The nun smiled and accepted the holy knight’s greeting.

An unusual situation.

Yet neither Lokro nor the nun expressed any doubt about this situation.

Rather, it seemed entirely natural to them.

“Yes, thanks to you, Sister, I was able to save eight children and twenty-five lives in a small village to the east and west this time.”

“That’s wonderful news.”

“It’s all thanks to you, Sister.”

“Not at all, it was you who saved them, Sir Lokro.”

The nun’s gentle words.

Yet Lokro, with a firm expression as if not to waver in his belief, spoke again.

“Indeed, it was I who saved them, but it was you who provided the teachings and strength to someone like me who had nothing.”

In fact, as he said, Lokro was not originally a holy knight.

Although he was a devout believer in Sironia and a trainee aspiring to become a holy knight, he could not handle the divine power that all holy knights must wield.

No, he couldn’t even feel it at all.

Thus, even after all his peers had become holy knights by mastering divine power, he remained a trainee for a long time.

For over eight years, he despaired over his inability to grasp divine power and was about to give up the strength of a holy knight when he met her.

She, who always had a gentle smile on her lips and red eyes, was the first to tell the despairing Locke such a story.

“Believe in the ‘moon’.”

At first, Locke did not understand those words.

He didn’t know the difference between believing in Sironia, who was also the goddess of the moon, and believing in the moon itself.

But at that time, Locke was desperate, and with a heart grasping at straws, he believed in the ‘moon’.

He was so desperate then.

And after repeating prayers for several days from that day on,

Locke, who had not been able to obtain divine power even once in the past 20 years, was able to use divine power for the first time that day, and at the same time, he could become a holy knight.

Locke, who was able to handle the divine power he thought he would never obtain so suddenly, was happy for a moment, but soon he doubted the nun.

At least for him, who was born in Rosario and had believed in Sironia all his life, being able to handle divine power was truly joyful.

But on the other hand, he thought that he might have stepped onto the path of heresy.

After all, he was able to use divine power after believing in the ‘moon’, not Sironia.

But ironically, the doubt began to fade as time went by.

The reason was that the divine power he gained by believing in the ‘moon’ was no different from the divine power he gained by believing in Sironia.

All the powers borrowed from the gods had exactly the same effect without a single mistake.

The sacred tools allowed in the name of the gods also shone brilliantly in Locke’s hands, proving that his divine power was real.

However, even so, the foreign matter in his heart did not disappear, and when he finally asked the nun why she told him to believe in the ‘moon’, she said,

It was not a difficult story, nor a story about heresy, nor a story about faith.

“Faith comes from invisible belief, but that takes too long. Usually, it’s much easier to gain belief from something that actually exists.”

“So I told you. The goddess in the high place is visible, but the moon is always by our side-“

“-because the goddess Sironia is also the moon.”

It was just a story about belief.

It was just a story about how people who always have doubts in their hearts could believe in the gods a little more surely.

With that answer, Locke erased the doubt in his heart.

And he thanked the nun.

He sincerely felt grateful to her for making him believe in the gods, even though his heart was full of doubts.

“Oh, if you want to express your gratitude, would you pray with us? It’s almost prayer time. Many others are gathered.”

“I would be happy to.”

With Locke’s nod, the nun smiled lightly and passed through the main door of the prayer room and opened the inner door.

There, many people were sitting.

A devotee, a child, a trainee, an ascetic, a holy knight.

Each one was in a different posture.

Some were standing in place.

Others were sitting in chairs.

Some were kneeling on the floor.

Others were simply bowing their heads while holding hands.

But one thing was the same: everyone in this chapel was reverently keeping their place.

The devotees, with their heads bowed and eyes closed, made not a single sound.

And, among them, a nun walked to the front of the chapel—

No.

“Well then—”

She, with a gentle smile.

“Let us all pray.”

Utia Bloodia, with her crimson eyes faintly visible, spoke as she stood against the moonlight shining through the stained glass.

“To the great moon.”