I Became the Patron of Villains

51. The Magic Society (4)

The man who belonged to the Green Magic Tower and witnessed in real-time how Fenia, who was called a scoundrel yesterday, turned into a meek lamb in front of Count Palatio.

The wizard whom Fenia apologized to, Killam, Milan’s mentor and a 5th-tier wizard, had a small doubt about Count Palatio from the beginning.

It was a question about the strength of Count Palatio.

Of course, Killam had not yet reached the 6th tier, where he could open the ‘eye’ that allows him to grasp the opponent just by looking at them.

However, even at the 5th tier, his senses were sharp enough to gauge the opponent’s magic power to some extent, and in Killam’s view, Count Palatio’s magic power was too small.

Of course, he knew that knowledge was important for a wizard.

No matter how large the magic hole was, it was meaningless without the knowledge to use magic.

However, no matter how excellent the knowledge, if the innate magic power was small, magic could not be used, so naturally, doubts arose.

He wondered if all the rumors related to him were made up to boost his own prestige.

Of course, when he saw Fenia’s sudden change, he thought he might have judged wrongly, but after confirming it again at the arena today, his judgment was not wrong.

Count Palatio’s magic power was too insignificant to be the subject of such great rumors.

Moreover, he was not the only one doubting him.

“Hmm, no matter how I look at it, it doesn’t seem like his tier is high, what do you think?”

“I think the same, it seems his magic hole is too small to be considered high tier.”

“…Tsk, it was all nonsense after all. Did he make it up for his own prestige?”

“Poor guy. All the rumors will be exposed because of the friendly match.”

As expected, the 5th-tier professor-level wizards gathered with him also expressed doubts as they sensed Alon’s magic.

Before the frozen ground covered the arena,

“……”

All the wizards fell silent.

Even the lower-tier wizards who had been curious until a moment ago.

Conversely, the 5th-tier wizards who had been looking at Alon with suspicion.

Everyone was staring at the situation with their mouths agape.

However, the emotions the wizards were feeling were different.

The lower-tier wizards looked at Alon’s magic with awe.

The high-tier wizards looked at Alon’s magic with shock.

It happened in an instant, but they knew what Alon had done.

‘Composite magic…! And more than three kinds…!’

Killam’s mouth dropped open.

Of course, compound magic was a type of magic he could use, and among the magicians of the 5th rank or higher present here, there was no one who couldn’t use it.

However, to perfectly implement more than three types of compound magic at once without any errors was something no one could confidently claim to do.

“How on earth did he do it?”

The fact that Count Palatio’s magical power was insignificant had already been erased from the minds of the 5th rank magicians.

Instead, what filled that space was the curiosity that had brought them to the 5th rank and the awe they felt towards the magician named Alon.

At that moment, when everyone’s attention was focused on the arena.

“Crystal.”

Alon muttered softly, forming a seal with his hand.

Simultaneously.

Crack-!

Dozens of small spheres, similar in size to small candies, began to form throughout the arena.

“Rotation.”

The spheres, which had been floating in the air, began to slowly rotate clockwise.

When the magicians started to question the spheres that began to spin on their own.

“Eek-!”

Baruch, who had been flustered by Alon’s magic, finally regained his composure and began to prepare his own magic.

If he couldn’t do anything here, he thought he might end up losing face instead of gaining influence, so he hastily prepared his magic.

However, the other magicians either questioned or frowned at the magic Baruch was preparing.

“That’s-“

“…Ke-Malan?”

The reason was that the magic Baruch was about to use was one of the main killing spells of the Purple Tower, which was not used in friendly matches.

But Baruch’s magic was never launched.

Crack-!

The next moment, Baruch had become an ice statue.

All the magicians recalled the situation with blank expressions.

Just a moment ago, when Baruch was preparing his magic, the small sphere that had been rotating suddenly exploded, turning Baruch into an ice statue.

With that, it was over.

“…Uh, uh… The winner of this friendly match is Alon Palatio…!”

The magician acting as the referee continued in a bewildered voice.

“Truly remarkable.”

“By the way, what was the seal you used earlier? Was it perhaps ancient magic?”

“You used composite magic, but how on earth did you arrange it?”

Right after the friendly match ended, Alon, who had come up to the audience seats leaving behind Baruch with an incredulous expression, was caught by the wizards and had to answer their questions for a long time.

Of course, no one broke the unwritten rule among wizards of not asking about unique magic, but amidst the barrage of questions, Alon realized one thing he hadn’t known before.

As a result of the conversation, he found out that the wizards had no idea about the seals and phrases Alon was using.

‘…How curious.’

Of course, Alon knew that the seals and phrases he used were completely forgotten relics of an ancient era.

But even so, he hadn’t imagined that there would be absolutely no information about the seals and phrases, which was quite fascinating.

Anyway, while obtaining such newfound information and conversing with the wizards, Alon…

“Wait a minute. What did you say? The third rank?”

“…The third rank?”

“No need to be modest, the third rank, really.”

“That can’t be.”

As soon as he revealed his rank, the wizards took it as a joke, and after leaving the arena where the friendly match was held, Alon sighed for a moment.

He fiddled with the gauntlet on his left index finger, an item known as the ‘Memory of the Black Eye’ in the game Psychedelia, with a satisfied expression.

‘It’s definitely useful.’

The ability of the ‘Memory of the Black Eye’ was simple.

It allowed the user to arbitrarily store one of the ‘spells’ they used and add a slight enhancement effect to it, which was the item’s ability.

In short, it was like an enhanced memorize that stored and amplified a spell, but for Alon, this item was extremely efficient.

The immediate cold he had to endure to overcome a restriction was a significant blow to Alon, who could only use magic five times.

After using the cold, he could only use magic twice more.

However, if he used the Memory of the Black Eye, Alon could use all five spells in a combat situation.

‘Moreover, the magic amplification is quite strong.’

He recalled that the cold he used earlier felt more than twice as strong as usual, and soon changed the subject.

‘The fame of the snowy mountain seems quite good.’

Alon, recalling the magic he had implemented using the phrase ‘fame of the snowy mountain’ earlier, couldn’t help but think again about the mysterious ‘it.’

When ‘it’ first told him that phrase, he hadn’t fully understood what it meant.

The phrases that had originally been in his mind were only understood as enhancing magical abilities, but he didn’t know the details.

However, after returning from the desert and using the phrase ‘fame of the snowy mountain’ several times, he recently realized roughly what kind of effect ‘fame of the snowy mountain’ had.

‘The manifestation of the implemented magic ends with the effect of freezing the surrounding atmosphere.’

Unlike the basic twisting and distorting of the nature of magic itself, it had an effect that seemed to literally touch the laws, and it was with that effect that today’s magic was implemented.

‘Is this what it was talking about?’

He recalled the words, ‘The sentence is a key that can open a specific door approaching the laws designated in this world.’

‘…I’m getting more and more interested.’

The more Alon learned about phrases and sentences, the deeper his curiosity grew about the rapidly developing magic. He glanced at the scenery outside the tower.

The sun was just hanging on the mountainside, turning into a sunset.

‘Is it just a little more?’

Watching the slowly descending sun, Alon thought of the one remaining item he had to take from the central tower today and turned his body.

####

The first night of the conference.

“That Count?”

“Why?”

“Are you really of the third rank…?”

“Yes.”

“…Really?”

“Yes.”

“Oh… okay. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Rian, who seemed to not believe Alon’s words at all, left with a look of disbelief.

“Count…?”

“Penia?”

“I, I know that you are of the third rank, Count.”

“…Really?”

“Yes, I know that you are of the third rank, Count…! Absolutely, without a doubt!”

“…?”

After Penia emphasized Alon’s rank three times and left, late at night, Alon confirmed that the moon was up and headed to the library.

Wooong-!

With a low resonant sound, he arrived again at the quiet library with no one in it.

Instead of lights, the blue moon hanging in the sky illuminated the library, giving it a somewhat eerie feeling as he entered.

[Seeing that you came up at this time, it seems someone cleverly solved my riddle.]

I couldn’t help but tremble at the majestic resonance that reached my ears.

It wasn’t so much that I felt something, but rather an instinctive shiver.

Like a weakling trembling instinctively at the sight of a strong one, I felt a creeping fear from within just by hearing the voice.

“That’s right.”

Alon answered, forcibly suppressing the rising terror.

After all, the item he needed could only be obtained by meeting her.

And then.

[Ho, it’s impressive that you didn’t panic and held on even after hearing my voice.]

As he watched the blue magic gather and begin to take shape in front of him, Alon felt sweat trickle down his hands.

He knew all too well the figure that would soon appear before his eyes.

‘The first archmage to reach the 8th rank since the forgotten age of gods-‘

-The mage whom all other mages revered and admired as the ‘Cup of the Beginning.’

And to those who had once plunged the world into chaos, she was the slaughterer known as the ‘Eternal Terror.’

“……Archmage Heinkel.”

As Alon muttered the name, the blue magical form quickly took shape.

Soon, a woman with a white pointed hat and blue eyes, wearing a relaxed smile, appeared in the library before Alon.

To mages, she was the Cup of the Beginning.

To those who had once plunged the world into chaos, she was the Eternal Terror.

Alon swallowed nervously behind his expressionless face.

Although Archmage Heinkel was not an enemy, a wrong answer could provoke her slightly eccentric temper and lead to his death on the spot.

Thus, Alon mentally reviewed the words and topics he must avoid with her.

The first words the archmage, who exuded an inherent intimidation just by appearing with a relaxed smile, said to Alon were.

[Hiiik……!?]

A groan of terror.

“……??”

……A question arose in Alon’s mind.