I Became the Patron of Villains

34. Leader…? Me…?

The northern lands, where the endless cold and ashen ground stretch on.

Not long ago, it was the place where the foreign god and the Count of Asteria fought, and now, it is filled with countless graves of bodies the expedition couldn’t retrieve.

Thud-

It appeared.

Wearing a black sacred robe.

With ominous black ornaments clinking at its waist and hands, it looked around with a face hidden by a hood.

“…?”

It twisted its lips.

As if not understanding the situation.

But soon after, it looked around again and smiled as if amused.

“Interesting.”

A rather cheerful voice that didn’t fit the ashen land.

Muttering in a voice that seemed to overlap countless others, whether male or female, it slowly looked around and then stared at the ground.

It silently gazed at the ground where the foreign body had disappeared and where it had allowed Alon’s strike in a rightful duel.

“How far can it go, shall we see?”

Muttering such meaningless words, it turned without hesitation, as if it had no more business here.

Soon, in the ashen land where only graves existed, nothing remained.

Five months had passed since gifts began arriving almost daily at the Count Palatio’s estate, and time had once again moved past spring into the clear summer weather.

At that point, when the warm wind was blowing, though it was more accurate to describe it as warm rather than hot.

Meanwhile, as the exploration of magic continued and the overwhelming number of gifts began to dwindle, Alon had two major tasks.

The first was the appearance of the forgotten city of Kahara.

As a result of constantly requesting information from the guild, Alon quickly obtained information that a forgotten city had been discovered in the desert.

Of course, the information from the guild was merely that an explorer had found a hidden city, but Alon could easily tell from his prior knowledge that it was the forgotten city of Kihara.

In other words, as soon as he departed from the colony, he could finally obtain the desired information.

However, the place he was currently heading to was not the desert city, but rather the capital of Asteria, Teria, which was the exact opposite of the desert city.

The reason was the second task, the grand council meeting that all nobles had to attend every three years.

“……Are we there yet?”

“Uh- we should be arriving soon.”

Evan answered Alon’s question as he looked up at the sky from the carriage.

“We shouldn’t be arriving soon, though?”

“But isn’t it difficult to go any faster?”

Alon nodded at Evan’s words.

Currently, Alon’s carriage, which was traveling on an unpaved road, was moving quite fast for a carriage.

‘I hate being late and drawing attention…’

Having miscalculated the time and almost arriving late for the grand council meeting, he sighed deeply behind his expressionless face.

He wanted nothing more than to turn the carriage around and head back to the colony, but unfortunately, it was impossible.

The grand council meeting, like the social gathering he had attended before, was a mandatory event for all nobles of Asteria every three years.

‘Why on earth is there such a regulation?’

In fact, Alon knew the reason as he had rummaged through documents looking for a way to avoid attending the grand council meeting.

‘…Is this a communist state…? Ah, it’s a monarchy, so it is a communist state…?’

However, knowing the reason for such regulations did not change Alon’s mind.

From the beginning, Alon had no intention of joining Asteria’s political factions, and now he had even less reason to do so.

Joining a political faction was tantamount to creating various enemies within the kingdom.

Of course, it was true that making such enemies could bring many benefits, but unfortunately, none of those benefits were what Alon desired.

Money had already become abundant thanks to his true benefactor, Deus.

‘…At some point, the burden of receiving too many gifts became overwhelming, so I returned them. But it’s true that I have plenty.’

In any case, given the conditions of his current dreams, there was almost no benefit to be gained from joining a faction, so he had not done so from the start.

“Evan.”

“The capital is in sight.”

Evan responded immediately, as if waiting for Alon’s words.

As he shifted his gaze outside the carriage, the capital of the Kingdom of Asteria, Teria, came into view.

“Oh.”

Teria’s level of development was far superior to any kingdom he had seen so far.

In fact, he had only visited about five territories, and the only capital he had been to was Caliban.

Nevertheless, compared to Caliban, the level of development, excluding the landmass, was not much different.

Thus, Alon, who was momentarily dazed while admiring the scenery of the capital,

“There it is.”

Seeing the distant figure of the Grand Assembly Hall, he felt a sense of urgency akin to a college student arriving ten minutes late to a lecture.

“Hmm…?”

As soon as he entered the interior of the Grand Assembly Hall, Alon tilted his head in confusion.

Despite the fact that the meeting should have already started, many nobles were still outside the hall, engaging in small talk.

‘What is this…?’

Alon briefly expressed his doubt, but soon, he hurriedly got off the carriage, relieved that he wouldn’t have to feel the cold, harsh emotions of being late as he had felt many times before.

‘I need to get in quickly.’

He moved towards the Grand Assembly Hall.

Immediately after.

“Phew-“

Evan, who had driven the carriage to the Grand Assembly Hall just in time, sighed in relief and looked at Alon.

Alon moved with slightly hurried steps to enter the interior of the Grand Assembly Hall.

‘In a hurry, are we?’

Of course, to others, it merely seemed like he was taking larger strides.

However, Evan, who had been with Alon for over seven years and was now approaching the eighth, could vaguely sense that Alon was indeed in a hurry.

‘Well, even if I noticed, that’s about all I could tell.’

Despite having spent quite a long time together, there were still many things Evan didn’t know about Alon, which made him wear a slightly bitter expression.

“…Huh?”

He soon wore a puzzled expression.

The nobles, who had been conversing with each other until just a moment ago, began to follow Alon as he moved quickly.

Of course, that was something that could naturally happen.

They might have lost track of time while talking and suddenly realized they were late for the Grand Assembly.

But that wasn’t the reason Evan felt puzzled.

‘…They’re all following the Count, aren’t they?’

The nobles near the Grand Assembly weren’t gathered in one place but were spread out.

From the stairs to the entrance, the nobles were widely dispersed.

In other words, the nobles who realized they were late for the Grand Assembly upon seeing Alon only needed to enter the entrance.

However.

‘…No, really?’

Alon, seemingly unaware, was driven by an obsession not to be late and a sense of relief that he didn’t have to feel like a college student anymore, but all the nobles were following behind him.

Thud-

“…???”

When Alon finally climbed the stairs of the Grand Assembly and entered the entrance, Evan wore a bewildered expression as he watched Alon lead all the nobles into the Grand Assembly.

Meanwhile, feeling a sense of relief as he entered the Grand Assembly, Alon could see the interior for the first time.

It looked almost identical to the circular parliamentary buildings he had seen on TV in his previous world.

The only difference, perhaps, was that it was divided into three sections, clearly distinguishing the factions.

‘…The left is the Royalists, and the right is the Nobles?’

Alon glanced at the nobles on the left and right, then looked at the empty seats.

‘…This seems to be where the unaffiliated nobles sit… Were there always this many unaffiliated nobles?’

Alon wore a puzzled expression.

But only for a moment, as he felt the gazes slowly turning towards him, Alon naturally moved to sit in the very back.

At that moment, Alon turned his head to the gaze he felt from behind and was soon horrified.

“……”

And for good reason, because behind Alon were nobles staring intently at him.

The pressure of the nobles, all showing expressions that seemed to ask, ‘What are you doing right now?’

‘No, you were all outside just a moment ago…??’

With a bewildered expression, Alon naturally moved to sit down on a chair in the middle, but.

“……Ah.”

Seeing the nobles still wearing expressions that seemed to ask, ‘What are you really doing??’, Alon finally realized why the nobles had been waiting outside the conference room despite the passage of time.

‘Could it be they didn’t want to sit in the front?’

A somewhat absurd thought that had only been valid during his university days.

Even in the game, there had never been a grand council of Asteria, and Alon, who had never participated in such a place, was eventually forced by the pressure of the nobles to sit at the apex of the triangle.

…In other words, he sat in the seat where anyone could see the leader of a faction should be seated.

As soon as Alon sat down, he heard the sound of the nobles sitting down as if it were a lie, and he felt that what he had thought was correct.

‘…I can see why they wouldn’t want to sit here.’

Alon glanced at the two faction leaders sitting at the apex like him.

Duke Limgrave of the Royalist faction.

Marquis Philboid of the Noble faction.

In terms of appearance, they could be described as a gracefully aged middle-aged man and a middle-aged man who had experienced all the hardships of the world, but the aura they exuded was considerable.

Of course, that aura was not magic.

If one had to describe it, it was like the seasoned presence felt from those who had long been the leaders of a faction and had experienced all sorts of trials and tribulations.

‘They’re staring intensely.’

As Alon inwardly realized why the nobles didn’t want to sit in the front.

“…Well then, let’s begin the grand council.”

The man in the center, who looked more like a clergyman than a noble, spoke while looking around at Alon and the other faction leaders.

‘I hope this ends quickly…’

With that thought, Alon turned his head and soon saw Duke Altia looking at him from the back seat.

Sitting in the row right behind Alon, she now exuded an atmosphere of a dark schemer, unlike when he had seen her before.

“Well then, before we begin the grand council, the newly formed ‘Kalpa’ will have voting rights in the grand council of Asteria.”

One of the rumors he had pushed to the back of his mind, thinking it would disappear anyway, suddenly came to mind.

It was the day when the faction of Lady Zenonia and Duke Altia was officially launched-

“Well then, Count Palatio, who is also the representative of Kalpa. Do you have anything to say?”

“…Yes?”

– At the same time, he realized that he had become the leader of the dark faction created by Duke Altia and Lady Zenonia.