I Became the Patron of Villains

48. Magic Society (1)

Count Zenonia stared blankly ahead.

There, Marquis Philboid, the leader of the noble faction and an undeniable force in the political world, was bowing his head to Count Palatio.

‘What…?’

Although Count Zenonia had mainly operated in the underworld before creating Kalpa, it wasn’t that he was completely ignorant of the current political world.

The House of Count Zenonia had also once navigated the competition between factions to secure their own interests.

No, in fact, even if she had never moved within the political arena, this situation was one that could not help but be surprising.

Fundamentally, among the nobles who belong to the political world, those with significant authority never bow their heads to the other party.

Unlike the underworld, where one might bow in front to achieve their desires but respond with a backstab, the political world of nobles values justification, cause, and prestige, and thus never engages in such actions.

In this place, where justification, cause, and prestige determine almost everything, the moment one bows their head to someone, it means giving the other party too much, both internally and externally.

‘How……?’

Count Zenonia looked at Count Palatio.

Despite receiving what was essentially a declaration of complete defeat from Marquis Philboid, his expression showed no sign of surprise.

As if he had foreseen this situation would naturally come.

At that, Count Zenonia felt a tingling sensation at her fingertips and a smile crept onto her lips.

‘As expected, amazing.’

Of course, she had no idea what means Count Palatio had used to extract such a declaration of defeat from Marquis Philboid, and honestly, she couldn’t even imagine it.

However, what was important to her was the power itself, so she couldn’t help but look at Count Palatio with eyes full of respect.

‘……What is it?’

In contrast, Alon was looking at the deeply bowed Marquis Philboid with a bewildered heart.

“…….”

Silence.

……Of course, it wasn’t that Alon was silent because he wanted to be, but rather because he too had no idea what was happening and was purely trying to grasp the current situation.

‘Have I, done something?’

Alon, who had forgotten to chew the financier he had put in his mouth, was racking his brain, but soon shook his head.

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t remember doing anything, and in the first place, he was too busy to do anything to Marquis Philboid.

‘……Has a rumor spread?’

Thus, Alon naturally began to consider other reasons.

‘Come to think of it, there seemed to be a rumor recently that I was close with Seolang.’

He recalled Duke Altia and Count Zenonia, who knew about the rumor that had started spreading in the colony, but soon discarded that hypothesis.

Indeed, even though he was treated well when greeting other nobles, it didn’t make sense that the Marquis would bow his head just because of Seolang.

As he reviewed one hypothesis after another, only one conclusion remained in his mind.

‘……What on earth have these guys done?’

Alon subtly turned his gaze to Count Zenonia and Duke Altia, who were staring at him intently.

Even though he was ignorant of politics, he knew how absurd it was for the leader of a faction to bow his head like this, so Alon, who was staring blankly at the two, was.

‘……Ah.’

He recalled that the two women behind him were originally supposed to become two of the three dark figures of the Asteria Kingdom.

‘……I must be careful.’

Just as Alon was finishing his thoughts,

“Truly, I have lost……!”

Marquis Philboid, the head of the noble faction who had never bowed his head in public, was bowing even deeper, seeking forgiveness.

And there was no trace of shame or anger in Marquis Philboid.

Rather, his face, bowed, was filled with fear.

The reason was a letter he had received a few days ago.

A letter that arrived shortly after Duke Limgrave was suddenly taken to the Holy Kingdom after receiving a reformation letter.

The letter contained not much.

Only a small magic orb and a single sentence.

However, that small magic orb and single sentence were enough to instill chilling fear in Marquis Philboid.

What was contained in the one-time-use magic orb was.

[Ah, ah, I really know nothing, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-]

Duke Limgrave, bound to a white chair, trembling as if a seizure button had been pressed, repenting in a scene that lasted less than five seconds.

After the magic orb finished playing and shattered, the remaining letter read.

[Next, it’s you.]

That single sentence was enough to instill fear in Marquis Philboid, and he could easily guess where this backlash was coming from.

‘Count Palatio……!’

Marquis Philboid could not understand how Count Palatio had connections in the Holy Kingdom stronger than the cardinals they had bribed.

But that was not the important issue.

The important thing was that Duke Limgrave, who had tried to bury Count Palatio with him, was taken to the Holy Kingdom and became half-crippled.

And the next target was himself.

……If he had not received this letter, Marquis Philboid would not have bowed to Count Palatio.

Receiving a reformation letter could be a significant political issue, but as long as he had not truly allied with heretics, there would be no major personal problems.

However, Duke Limgrave had faced such backlash despite having no connection with heretics.

In other words, it was highly likely that Duke Limgrave had been ruined because of some scheme by Count Palatio.

Fearing that he would be taken to the Holy Kingdom and end up like the Duke, Marquis Philboid finally bowed his head in the face of the continuous fear.

“Please-!”

He soon went beyond bowing his head and fell to his knees, prostrating himself on the floor.

A desperate struggle revealing his determination to give up his political life and retire cleanly, wanting to live the rest of his life in peace.

To that.

‘Impressive…!’

‘As expected of the Count…!’

When Count Zenonia and Duke Altia looked at Alon with eyes full of respect.

‘…Impressive. What on earth did he do?’

Alon looked at Count Zenonia and Duke Altia with a slightly uneasy expression.

In the end, that day.

“…I’ll consider it.”

Alon muttered words even he didn’t know, and left the ballroom under everyone’s gaze.

This incident neatly dispelled the suspicion that Count Palatio might be a proxy leader set up to allow Altia and Zenonia to move freely, which had been around since Kalpa was established.

About three days after the conference started.

Alon left the territory of Viritiun and began moving east.

It was essentially for the purpose of participating in the Magic Society, which was the goal of this trip.

Thanks to that, he left the conference, which had about two days left, and headed to Bluegill, a territory near the Magic Society, following the letter sent by Rian, on the fifth day.

Alon heard from Evan that Marquis Filboid had finally received a letter of reformation.

“So he was finally taken away…”

“Yes? Wasn’t it you who sent it, Count?”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“…I’ve been with you all this time, do you think I had the time to do that?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

Evan hesitated for a moment before confessing.

“These days, I feel like… the Count is hiding something.”

“Me? What?”

“Well… magic, for one, and various other things. Last time you said you were doing nothing, and now suddenly you’ve become the leader of a faction?”

At Evan’s question, Alon thought for a moment and then said.

“……It was really a coincidence that I became the leader.”

“Is it possible to become a leader by coincidence……?”

“…….”

Hearing that, it did make sense, but only for a moment.

“It seems we are almost there?”

With Evan’s relaxed expression, as if it didn’t matter anymore, Alon arrived at Bluegill, a territory of the Ashtalon Kingdom near the Magic Society.

Not long after, they met Riyan, who was with the wizards from the Red Tower at the promised place.

“Hello, Count.”

“Nice to meet you.”

Unlike last time, Riyan bowed his head politely and headed straight to the Magic Society with Alon.

Thanks to moving by carriage immediately upon arriving at Bluegill, they were able to reach the Central Tower while the sun was still up this time.

“Wow…… it’s huge.”

Evan exclaimed as soon as he saw the Central Tower.

Alon was also admiring the Central Tower in his own way.

Of course, he had seen illustrations of the tower several times while playing Psychedelia, but seeing it in person was vastly different.

‘……Isn’t it taller than Lotte Tower?’

Unlike the landscapes he had seen in games, he felt a sense of awe at the existence of such a tall tower in a fantasy world.

How long had he been looking up at the tower, comparing it to the gigantic buildings he had seen in real life?

“It’s really big, isn’t it?”

“Indeed.”

“Let’s go in first.”

Alon soon entered the tower with Riyan.

“As far as I know, the Green Tower will present a newly established theory on the first day. After that, there will probably be some friendly matches. And tomorrow-”

Listening to Riyan’s various explanations, Alon entered the tower.

“Surprisingly, there aren’t that many people.”

“Well, it’s not the main conference period.”

“Main conference?”

“Oh, didn’t I explain?”

With those words, Riyan’s explanation began anew, and Alon soon nodded.

“So, to summarize, the main conference is a gathering where even the tower lords participate.”

“That’s right. Because of that, there are always quite a few wizards at the university meetings. The same goes for the academic conferences.”

While Alon was nodding his head anew at the setting that hadn’t appeared in the game.

“Ha- these idiots, really.”

“What? That’s too harsh!”

“Harsh? If you can’t understand this much, you’re an idiot. Right?”

As Alon made a puzzled expression at the slightly familiar and intense voices coming from one side of the central tower, Rian sighed.

“Looks like someone got into a fight with the Blue Tower Lord again.”

“…Blue Tower Lord?”

“Yes. You probably know, but he’s someone who lives for his own greatness, so he’s probably picking a fight again.”

Alon, recalling her previous attitude of disliking the Blue Tower, was about to ask a question when.

“Hey! Let’s do it again!”

“Do what again, you idiots. Do you think you can beat me? What, are you going to bring twenty people this time because ten weren’t enough?”

“Hey!!”

Penia, who had dragged out the angry wizards from the space where they had a friendly match, was walking with a blatant sneer.

“Huh?”

Soon, she found Rian and curled her lips into a smirk.

“Who is this? Isn’t this the half-baked wizard who couldn’t even put up a fight against me last year?”

A blatant provocation.

Rian frowned and glared, but Penia, full of ridicule, seemed to find her gaze laughable.

“What? Did you bring a friend this time to stand up to me-“

She naturally shifted her gaze to the right.

“Uh…?”

She froze.

“?”

And then her face turned pale.

Just a moment ago, she had been treating everything around her with contempt, but now she stopped as if broken, leaving Rian puzzled for a moment.

“Ah, hello…!”

“?

Penia, whose face had turned blue, stammered, leaving Rian dumbfounded.

Formal speech.

The honorifics that Penia would never have used, flowed from her lips for the first time in her life.

And then.

“It’s been a while. How have you been?”

“Y-Yes-!”

Known as a genius to the outside world, but among wizards, she was called the greatest scoundrel. She responded like a soldier standing at attention.

“???”

Not only Liyan, but also the wizards who followed Penia with angry expressions, gaped silently, staring at Count Palatio who had accomplished the impossible right before their eyes.