I Became the Patron of Villains

23. The Great Church (3)

The cold north.

A place where it seems no living creature could survive the extreme cold.

In that place, always painted in shades of gray as if cursed by the endless blizzards, a man lay collapsed.

Where his right arm should have been, there was a red blood flower instead of an arm.

Where his left eye should have been, it was empty-

He was one of the eight great chieftains of the barbarians, the great Klkan, waiting for death after being defeated by the treacherous knights of Caliban.

Yet even as he was dying, his eyes were filled with clear anger.

‘Dogs who know no honor…!’

The reason was not because Klkan had been defeated.

For the barbarians who revered battle, death in battle was rather a glorious thing.

But even so, the reason Klkan had an angry expression was because he had been killed dishonorably.

That too, by falling for the trick of a knight who proposed a ‘duel’ and then ambushed him.

“Cough-!”

Klkan spat out blood.

Regardless of his anger, the gray world gradually became blurry.

Regardless of his grief, his ears were slowly closing.

Regardless of his despair, Klkan’s mind was slowly sinking below the surface.

And, at the moment when everything was about to return to perfect nothingness.

‘Ah, Ultultus…’

Klkan simply called out the name of the great god.

At that moment.

Thud-

Everything stopped.

The vision, which had been so blurry it was almost dark, saw light again.

The sound of the northern harsh wind was heard in the ears that had been closed.

The mind that was about to drift below the surface slowly resurfaced.

And then.

[Blood kin.]

[Call me.]

[Call my great name.]

[The name you worshipped.]

[Call my name.]

[And I will grant you what you desire.]

Following the great guidance that was like a command.

Klkan, as if possessed.

“Mighty Ultultus…”

He uttered such a murmur.

And then, the being that had become an outer god, smiled.

Right after hearing something that seemed like a fitting title, “For some reason, I woke up and became the mastermind of Asteria.”

Alon closed his gaping mouth and mumbled.

But the sweetness he had felt until just a moment ago was completely gone.

‘What kind of nonsense is this?’

Countless question marks floated and disappeared in Alon’s mind.

Because he couldn’t understand at all why such a rumor had spread.

If he had been friendly with Duke Altia or Count Zenonia, who were now forming new factions, he could have understood why such a rumor would spread.

The problem was that Alon had never once met the two nobles.

The last time she saw Duke Altia was at a ball when she was still a young lady, and although she had met Lady Zenonia, she had never met Count Zenonia.

In other words, there was a severe lack of plausibility for such rumors to arise.

After thinking for a long time and moving his lips slowly, Alon concluded that the story he had heard from another noble in secret was a ridiculous rumor.

One would at least have to be acquainted to harbor any suspicion, but since there was no acquaintance at all, Alon didn’t even feel suspicious.

So, when Alon picked up a cookie next to the egg tart this time.

“Count Palatio.”

“?

Alon turned his gaze to the voice he heard and looked to the side.

There stood a man dressed in expensive clothes, his face full of ridicule.

‘Who is this guy?’

Alon glanced at the man.

The man’s appearance, with his curly hair grown to one side, made it easy to see that his personality was twisted in a different way from that of Count Palatio, but no more information could be obtained.

At least in Alon’s mind, there was no information about him at all.

“Oh, I haven’t introduced myself. I am Carmine, the third son of Duke Komalan of the Kingdom of Ashtalon.”

Seeing that Alon didn’t recognize him, Carmine’s expression momentarily faltered, but he soon opened his mouth to introduce himself, and Alon, after a moment of doubt, nodded.

He had heard that foreign nobles often came to the grand cathedral where most of the nobles of the Kingdom of Asteria gathered.

“I am Count Palatio.”

Alon greeted him first.

“I know your name well. I heard you became a count by luck?”

“…?”

But at the words that followed, he blinked momentarily.

He had somewhat sensed from the beginning that this wasn’t a good conversation, but he hadn’t expected such immediate mockery as if intelligence didn’t exist.

So, when he wore a blank expression.

“What do you mean by that?”

Turning his gaze to another voice from the other side, Alon soon saw a familiar face, unlike Carmine.

‘…Marquis Mardinio?’

Of course, Alon recognized him not by his face but by the logo embedded in his heart and his clear middle-aged appearance.

“Are you disrespecting the nobles of our Kingdom of Asteria?”

“…?”

Suddenly, he wore a bewildered expression at the abruptly deployed shield.

In the Kingdom of Ashtalon, Carmine, the third son of Duke Komalan, was not in a particularly good mood today.

There were various reasons, but the biggest one was that despite his efforts to come here, the marriage talks with the fifth daughter of Duke Rotegre were not progressing well.

Of course, the breakdown of the marriage talks was purely because Carmine, who seemed not to have aged at all—just like a brat—had behaved in his characteristic rogue manner.

He had committed the absurd act of evaluating the appearances of other ladies in front of the fifth daughter.

But, as expected of a spoiled brat, instead of admitting his mistake, Carmine was very upset by the lady’s suggestion to reconsider the marriage talks.

If this were not the allied kingdom of Asteria—or rather, if it were not for Duke Rotegre, who was secretly conducting many transactions ‘behind the scenes’—he would have overturned the situation at least once.

…Of course, conversely, Carmine seemed completely unaware that Duke Rotegre was only turning a blind eye to his rogue behavior because of the very secretive relationship he had with Duke Komalan ‘behind the scenes.’

Anyway, in such a bad mood, he decided to attend the ball to lighten his spirits and ended up picking a fight with Count Palatio.

The reason he picked a fight was simple.

To vent his already bad mood.

Of course, there were plenty of servants and knights around him who could be ignored, but Carmine did not particularly enjoy teasing them.

It wasn’t because he had a great character, but because he found no fun in playing with toys he could break at will.

For them, the treatment of non-nobles was just that, and in that sense, Count Palatio was a good punching bag for Carmine to relieve his stress.

According to the rumors Carmine knew, Count Palatio was just a lucky fool who became a count and had no close noble friends.

Even though he was a rogue, Carmine knew that this place was not his territory, so he thought of a punching bag he could hit without any problems through his own delicate (?) thoughts.

So, as soon as he saw him, he picked a fight.

“…Do you know that insulting a noble of the Kingdom of Asteria is extremely rude?”

“No, that’s—”

“The Kingdom of Ashtalon has been our ally for a long time, but that was only because of mutual respect. Has the Kingdom of Ashtalon lost its respect?”

“No, that’s not—”

“Huh, does Duke Komalan, the pillar of the Kingdom of Ashtalon, see Asteria in such a light?”

“That’s absolutely not true…!”

“Then why do you call a noble’s name carelessly without proper succession?”

“Th-that is—”

Carmine wore a confused expression.

Contrary to the rumors he knew, as soon as he picked a fight with Duke Palatio, nobles popped out one after another to scold Carmine.

So, with a bewildered expression, he soon turned his gaze to Alon.

But Alon, too, was staring blankly at the situation with a very bewildered and confused expression behind his characteristic impassiveness.

‘……What is this situation?’

He immediately looked at the three nobles defending Alon.

One was Marquis Mardano.

Another was Duke Rotegre.

The last was Count Palan.

It wasn’t difficult for Alon to recognize the three nobles, partly because of their emblems, but mainly because their reputations within Asteria were quite high.

Marquis Mardano was a prominent figure among the royalist faction.

Duke Rotegre, on the other hand, was a prominent figure among the aristocratic faction.

Count Palan, although maintaining political neutrality, had accumulated considerable power by maintaining his position.

No matter how uninterested he was in politics and nobility, it was impossible for anyone in Asteria not to know them.

“Isn’t it true that Duke Komalan is looking down on us?”

“N-no, that’s not it.”

“Then why did you speak so rudely to the Count?”

“I-I… I was disrespectful.”

“Disrespect is not the issue. The point here is why you spoke such dismissive words to Count Palatio.”

Alon, watching the nobles corner Carmine with a familiar phrase he had seen somewhere before, suddenly realized where he had seen this situation.

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Does saying sorry end your military service?’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘Does saying sorry end your military service?’

Ah- this is it.

As the vivid memory from over ten years ago flashed through his mind, Alon unconsciously broke into a cold sweat.

“I-I… I was disrespectful…!”

Carmine, unable to withstand the nobles’ pressure, fled the ballroom as if escaping, and as soon as he left, the nobles approached Alon and started talking to him.

“Count Palatio, are you alright?”

“I’m alright, but…”

Alon looked at the three nobles, wondering why they were treating him this way.

However.

“Look at that. They must have already heard the rumors.”

“…It seems the rumors were true. For those big shots to move like this.”

“If the Duke of Altia and the Count of Zenonia get involved in politics, it will be overwhelming. But look, the other nobles are bewildered. It’s still a secret rumor, so be careful with your words.”

“…Where… did you even hear such things?”

“There are ways.”

Thanks to his hearing, which had not yet lost its magical power, Alon was able to hear the secret whispers of the nobles earlier. He was briefly stunned as he vaguely realized what was happening.

“Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken with the Count. Well, he must be very busy, so I understand.”

As if he knew everything, the Marquis of Mardarnio started speaking with a hearty laugh, and Alon seriously considered whether to tell the three nobles, who were pretending to be close, that the rumor was nonsense.

There was more than enough potential for things to get unnecessarily complicated later.

However, if he spoke now, the situation itself would become very awkward, so Alon pondered what to do.

“Oh, by the way, I heard the Count is researching magic. Is that true?”

“It is.”

“Then how about I give you a small gift? Among the artifacts I obtained after clearing out the orc horde, there is a relic that can store and use magical power. What do you think?”

“Come to think of it, I also prepared a gift-“

He remained silent for a moment as the nobles continued to speak.

…And that day, Alon received two magical artifacts and five magic recovery potions from the three nobles.

And.

When the sudden bigwigs flocked to Alon, leaving most of the nobles bewildered.

‘I touched the wrong person…’

‘This is really bad…!!’

Count Crylde and Count Edorn closed their eyes tightly with despairing expressions.

Four days into the banquet.

When Alon’s list of spoils was somehow increasing.

“…In the north, an outsider has descended?”

“Yes. That’s the information. It seems the purple crystal is also related to that outsider… but they say they don’t know for sure as it’s information from ancient texts.”

“……”

“Anyway, thanks to that, Caliban is in chaos.”

Hearing the information he had asked the information guild for, with only two days left of the banquet, Alon began to ponder something and soon.

“…Evan.”

“Yes.”

“After the banquet ends, do what needs to be done and then head straight to Caliban.”

Without hesitation, he made a decision.