I Became the Patron of Villains

54. Labyrinth City Lartania (3)

Laval Greystone was indeed a character whose very existence was harmful.

He was one of the most notorious characters you could encounter while playing Psychedelia.

The massacre of the 30th floor mercenaries.

The monster abyss absorption incident.

The chimera biological experiments.

Most of the malicious sub-stories that occurred in Lartania during the game were all because of him.

In other words, considering the future of Lartania, it was definitely better for him not to exist.

However, the reason Laval Greystone was still alive was because he was the son of the lord of the labyrinth city.

The position of being the lord’s son, who could wield absolute power within the labyrinth city, essentially meant he could rule like a king within this city.

……In short, Rine had essentially killed royalty, so Alon, doubting his ears, asked blankly.

“……Killed?”

“Yes.”

“…Ravald Greystone…?”

“Yes.”

Alon felt dizzy as Rine answered nonchalantly, as if she were talking about having breakfast.

“Really…?”

“Yes, Godfather. Was there a problem?”

“…Why did you kill him?”

“Well… because you said he was inconvenient, right?”

“?”

“??”

Alon and Rine exchanged puzzled looks.

“Even so, killing him right away is a bit much, isn’t it?”

“But if he were alive, he would continue to be inconvenient for you…?”

“……”

As Alon talked with Rine, he suddenly realized something.

‘…The Five Great Sins.’

He had momentarily forgotten, thinking of her as a well-behaved daughter who didn’t need much attention, but Rine was also destined to become one of the seeds of the Five Great Sins in the future. Alon couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.

‘But before that… how did she kill him?’

Ravald Greystone wasn’t particularly strong.

However, the mercenaries who followed Ravald Greystone wherever he went were not ones to be easily killed, as far as Alon knew.

They were at least A-rank mercenaries.

So how did Rine, who was not a combatant like Deus or Seolang, but merely an empath, manage to deal with them?

As Alon wore a puzzled expression, Rine cautiously spoke up.

“…Was there a problem?”

Perhaps because Alon had asked several times, she now wore a slightly crestfallen expression, as if wondering if she had done something wrong.

“It’s not that there’s a problem… Is it okay?”

“In what way?”

“…Mainly in terms of personal safety.”

“If it’s about that, you don’t need to worry, Godfather.”

“Is that… so?”

“Yes. I certainly came here pretending to be someone else.”

With a confident nod, despite her expressionless face, Rine’s demeanor reminded Alon of a phrase he had seen in an old community.

‘…Is this what it means to have a different mindset…?’

Alon cleared his throat lightly and spoke.

“Anyway, thanks for your concern. Don’t be too sullen.”

“I wasn’t sullen, godfather.”

“…You were a bit sullen just a moment ago-“

“No, I wasn’t.”

‘…She can kill royalty without batting an eye, but this embarrasses her?’

Alon looked at the very unique Rine with a bit of amazement and continued.

“Anyway, try to avoid any situations that might put you in danger.”

“…Why, godfather?”

“Well, because various problems could arise. First, you could be in danger, and all the hard work to establish yourself could crumble in an instant, right?”

“…?”

Rine tilted her head, making a face that said, “What is he talking about?”

It wasn’t a difficult thing to understand, yet she seemed unable to grasp what he was saying.

She appeared to ponder something seriously for a moment.

“Ah.”

As if realizing something, she nodded slightly.

“Don’t worry too much, godfather. I understand my duties well.”

As she resumed eating, Alon was left a bit dumbfounded.

Despite having a conversation, he felt something was slightly off.

But continuing this conversation didn’t seem like a good choice, so Alon closed his mouth.

After all, she had dealt with Lavald for Alon’s sake.

It was a bit… no, quite excessive, but since she did it for him, Alon decided not to ask further.

‘But, no matter how much she thinks of me as her godfather, would she go this far…?’

As Alon was eating a sausage, lost in such thoughts.

“Ah, I wanted to show you the Eye of the Tracker, godfather. Would you come with me?”

“The Eye of the Tracker?”

“Yes.”

Alon nodded at Rine’s words.

Soon after finishing their meal, Alon entered a room with Rine.

“……?”

He saw a golden eye floating in the small room.

The golden eye, surrounded by a blue halo, seemed to tell anyone who saw it that this was not ordinary.

But as Alon stared blankly at it, he recalled what Rine had said earlier.

She had said she would show him the Eye of the Wanderer.

‘Is this… the Eye of the Wanderer…?’

Thus, Alon couldn’t help but wear a blank expression.

####

The Eye of the Wanderer that Alon handed over to Rine was, as he knew it, just an artifact with a small eye-shaped jewel embedded in a round sphere.

The artifact’s effect was to appraise artifacts from lower tiers in more detail.

In other words, it wasn’t a particularly good item.

Even the essence of the Golden Mane Tribe didn’t have any special phrases in the artifact’s description, so Alon never imagined that the Eye of the Wanderer would hide such a secret.

“The engravings are gathering smoothly.”

And soon enough, he could guess that this Eye of the Wanderer was an item that imprinted engravings to enhance certain relics, but he didn’t bother to confirm that fact.

Because Alon had realized.

Why Rine was showing him such great favor…!

‘Was it because of this…?’

As far as he knew, the reason Rine’s Merd could gain fame was because of her ability to imprint engravings.

Rine’s success to this extent was partly due to the Eye of the Wanderer, so from her perspective, she couldn’t help but feel grateful to Alon.

Of course, Alon never imagined that the Eye of the Wanderer had such an effect.

…Anyway, if Alon didn’t know about this while Rine was feeling grateful, it would be awkward.

“I see. You’re using it well.”

Alon nodded as if he knew the true nature of the ‘Eye of the Wanderer.’

“Yes, although the gathering has slowed down a bit after 400, it’s still going well. I think it will gather within a few years.”

“I see.”

Alon was curious about what was gathering, but he didn’t ask, fearing it might arouse Rine’s suspicion, so he just nodded slightly.

And so, after a little more time passed.

“Then let’s go right away, Godfather.”

Alon headed to the regular meeting place with Evan, following Rine.

####

There were two reasons why Alon wanted to join the foreign god’s subjugation squad.

The first was that it was obvious that the current mercenaries alone would never be able to subjugate the foreign god.

Of course, the mercenaries from the five major mercenary guilds who had gathered to subjugate the foreign god had superhuman strength, like Baba Yaga or Master Knights.

However, Alon knew that it was impossible to capture the foreign god with just that.

The second reason was that in order to subjugate the foreign god, the strong mercenaries who would follow Alon’s orders were absolutely necessary, so he wanted to join the foreign god’s subjugation squad.

However, the problem was-

“Tsk-“

“Just by looking at him, he doesn’t seem to have much strength, and you want to take this guy?”

“Ha- He looks like someone whose reputation is all talk. Are you here to just put a spoon in?”

-The mercenaries seemed unlikely to follow Alon’s orders at all.

In the conference room where Alon entered, four men and women were looking at him with very displeased expressions.

Maverick, the guild leader of the Terranomad Guild, clicked his tongue with a face full of annoyance and fiddled with his sword.

Himan, the guild leader of the Arcadia Guild, lifted his pointed hat slightly with a blatant look of disdain and opened his mouth.

Myaon, the beast-woman and guild leader of the Ancient Tracker Guild, spun the dagger in front of her with the characteristic vertically slit eyes of the feline beast-people, letting out a hollow laugh as if she didn’t like what she saw.

And.

Among them, the guild leader of the Calimadra Guild, who could be said to be the strongest among the current mercenary guild leaders.

“…….”

Argonia, the half-dragon who had an ancient dragon as an ancestor, looked at him silently.

Of course, that gaze was not very positive.

‘I expected this to some extent, but it’s worse than I thought.’

As soon as he entered the conference room, Alon’s thoughts flashed by as he looked at the guild leaders who immediately sent blatant hostility and mocking glances.

In fact, he had somewhat expected this situation.

The people here were skilled enough to fully grasp Alon’s magical power.

Above all, the people here were ultimately mercenaries.

Mercenaries who prioritized the logic of power above all else.

Knowing that he had to first gain recognition and not be ignored in order to be acknowledged and have a conversation with such mercenaries.

“Noble sir, I’ve heard some rumors recently that you’re sticking your spoon in here and there. Seeing you in person, it seems like you’re not even worth talking to us. Why don’t you just go back?”

“Sigh-“

Alon, without hesitation, formed a seal with his left hand, which was clad in a gauntlet, in response to Myon’s sneer.

Simultaneously.

Crack-!

Without any warning, the once ordinary conference room was filled with ice.

Myon, who tried to rise quickly in response to the sudden event.

“Condensation.”

But as soon as Alon, who had already formed a seal in his pocket, uttered the word, the surrounding atmosphere, including the magical energy, gathered towards Myon.

“Freezing.”

At the following word, the atmosphere and magical energy that had gathered around Myon reacted instantly, creating frost, which soon explosively multiplied.

Crack-!

Enclosing her.

Myon, trapped in the ice, bewildered, not knowing how she was caught.

There was no particular reason for freezing her.

According to the setting he knew, she was the only one among the mercenaries present whose combat power was the lowest, not reaching the level of a superhuman.

Thus, Alon, who glanced at Myon, who had frozen without any particular reaction to the surprise attack.

He calmly walked past the numerous mercenaries who had rushed in, noticing something was amiss in the conference room.

Step-step-

Neither slow nor fast.

Moving at a moderate pace as if nothing had happened, he soon sat in the chair opposite Argonia-

“I think we can have a conversation now.”

-crossing his legs.

“What do you think?”

A heavy silence descended upon the conference room.