I Became the Patron of Villains

Chapter 71

71. Is this really okay…? (4)

A severe cold spread across the arena, and blue sparks began to crackle and flow through the air.

An unmistakable manipulation of ominous magic.

“Disintegration.”

At Alon’s command, the sparks burst forth, transforming into glowing blue particles that scattered in all directions.

Despite it being midday, the particles shone brightly like fireflies.

And then.

“Fusion.”

Just moments ago, his body had been intact, but now, even as he stood still, it wavered like a mirage.

“!”

Philsion was already within Alon’s reach.

Using the blazing red flames that could burn everything as propulsion, he leaped, gripping the sword that had slipped down as he watched Alon’s wavering form.

‘Even if it’s different from what I expected, it’s still okay-!’

Though he was surprised by the use of a completely different magic than the ice magic he had anticipated, he saw this situation as an opportunity.

In this moment of preparing magic, the opponent was defenseless.

‘It would have been better to fight flamboyantly and then deal with it-’

From the moment the opponent used a different magic, his chances of winning plummeted exponentially.

‘-I’ll end it right now.’

As Philsion raised his sword without hesitation to strike.

“Transmutation of All Things.”

Alon spoke.

In that fleeting moment.

Alon’s face, staring at him impassively.

His body, forming a seal with his index and middle fingers.

Crackle-!!!!

“Form of the Thunder God.”

He became the blue lightning itself.

And Philsion’s thoughts ceased to continue.

####

Bang-!!

With a sound like an explosion, Philsion’s body crashed into the arena, and the lightning left an afterimage as it crossed the field.

Crackle-!!

In a second, or perhaps even less.

In that fleeting moment that passed so quickly it was hard to comprehend what had happened, the spectators witnessed two things.

One was Philsion’s body smashing into the arena wall.

The other was.

Crackle-!

A figure wrapped in lightning-

No, a figure that seemed to have become lightning itself, cloaked in a blue radiance, Alon.

Crackle-!

Every time his dark coat fluttered, lightning crackled and scattered in all directions.

From noble mtl dot com

Tsk-

And as the end of the coat slowly regained its dark hue.

Soon.

Zzzzz───

““……””

Like a gradient, the spectators watched as the form of lightning gradually returned to the shape of Count Palatio himself.

[The, the winner is- Palatio Alon!!]

As the commentator, who had been at a loss for words, finally opened his mouth,

─■■■■■■■■!!!

With a thunderous roar, the spectators stood up and clapped so hard the arena shook.

Receiving the ecstatic noise and frenzied applause all at once, Alon.

‘Crazy-’

Without even having time to properly hear the crowd’s noise, he unconsciously cursed, frowning at the blood starting to drip down his sleeve.

‘I almost died.’

It was not a metaphor.

He had almost died just now by using magic.

While it was true that his mana was completely depleted, it wasn’t the mana exhaustion that nearly killed him.

The reason was the magic he used—

‘Crazy—’

—no, it was in the sentence itself.

Unlike last time, Alon could understand the law of the sentence as soon as he used it.

No, he had no choice but to understand.

If he hadn’t, he wouldn’t be here, and the moment the magic ended, he would have been decomposed into molecular units and ceased to exist in this world.

‘Twisting the law to convert the body into mana… why does such a crazy magic exist?’

The ‘Array of Thunder’ he used was literally converting the body into mana with the properties of electricity.

The following phrases were all processes of enchanting the pre-prepared electric magic.

The final ‘Thunder God Form’ was the magic that implemented the fused magic array.

In other words, the self-implementation that Sparrow taught him was, in fact, an incredible magic that literally turned the caster into lightning itself.

Yet, the reason Alon felt this magic was crazy was none other than its difficulty.

This ‘Thunder God Form’ was a spell that temporarily turned the body into lightning, allowing the caster to use its properties.

The problem was that the irregular mana array of the lightning, when combined with Alon’s body, would collapse the original array with even the slightest movement of his body.

In other words, if Alon had no talent for controlling the mana array, he could have disappeared in a brilliant display of fireworks just now.

‘…It hurts like hell.’

Even though he stopped for more than a second to urgently reconstruct the body’s array, he could feel the amount of blood flowing under his sleeve increasing, indicating that there were parts he hadn’t managed to take care of.

‘Sparrow, did you teach me this just to mess with me?’

Suddenly, he thought of Sparrow’s staff, which would be watching the match with Evan.

‘Let’s go back first.’

Leaving behind the thunderous cheers, Alon returned to the waiting room.

“Count…”

“What is it?”

“No… I don’t think I’ll be surprised by anything you show me anymore.”

Evan, who was looking at him with a strange expression, said.

[How… how did you do it?]

He felt a thrilling emotion behind his expressionless face as he heard Sparrow’s staff, which had only been sarcastic, trembling in disbelief.

“The bet is my victory.”

####

A day later.

In less than a week, Alon’s fame as an A-rank warrior had quickly spread throughout the colony.

Thanks to this, there were far more stories about Alon circulating in the colony than about other warriors.

However, the subject of these rumors, Alon himself,

“It’s the royal castle now, Master!”

was quietly heading to the royal castle of the colony with Seolang.

The reason was that becoming an A-rank warrior had granted him access to the royal treasury.

‘Originally, it would have taken at least a week to enter the treasury.’

The reason Alon was able to proceed so quickly was thanks to Seolang.

‘I didn’t expect Baba Yaga’s power to be strong enough to influence the royal family.’

As Alon, who was once again amazed by Seolang’s abilities, passed through the massive castle walls,

[Hey,]

Sparrow spoke directly into his mind.

Instead of answering aloud, Alon

Swish-

responded by channeling his magic into his staff as Sparrow had taught him.

‘Did you forget the bet?’

[Ugh-!]

Sparrow grimaced fiercely. However-

[……Excuse me, Count, I have something to ask you.]

he soon trembled slightly, using a very polite and refined tone, completely different from a few days ago.

“What is it?”

[Well, as I mentioned yesterday, would you consider making a contract with me to succeed me?]

“As I said yesterday, I think I need more time to consider it.”

[No! This is a really good opportunity!]

“Hmm-“

[……Sir!?]

Sparrow, who belatedly added an honorific, spoke as if frustrated.

[As you know from using it, my law is very strong. Even if it’s just supplemented over generations, it can slap other wizards thirty times over, seriously-!]

####

From the moment Alon used his law despite not inheriting the image, Sparrow had been urging him to become his successor, just as the Yongin tribe had said.

‘Successor, huh-’

In fact, from Alon’s perspective, who had to learn magic, taking this staff as a teacher wasn’t a bad choice.

Just knowing the phrases and sentences seemed to hold quite a bit of magical knowledge.

Nevertheless, the reason Alon didn’t answer was because of the contract Sparrow proposed.

Sparrow called it a priestly contract, but there was no reason to draw a magic circle and make a contract he didn’t even know about.

‘I’ll be meeting him tomorrow anyway, so it’s not too late to ask and decide then.’

With that thought, Alon was casually brushing off Sparrow’s words.

[Please, think about it seriously once more, just……!]

“Hmm. According to you, isn’t it impossible for me, who hasn’t even received the image, to become a successor?”

[No, that’s because I really didn’t know! I’m sorry!]

“No need to apologize. I was too dumb to be a successor anyway.”

[……You’re really holding a grudge…….]

“What did you say?”

[Ah, no- I mean-]

As a result of losing the bet last time, Sparrow had to speak respectfully and desperately urged Alon to become a successor until he placed the staff in the carriage to enter the royal castle.

……However, until then, all Sparrow could learn was that Alon held grudges more than expected.

[……Ha. Getting angry for no reason-]

Left alone in the carriage, Sparrow muttered darkly to himself.

……It was his own karma.

####

The royal castle of Colony had a slightly different atmosphere from the royal castles of other countries that Alon knew.

Unlike the basic royal castles commonly thought of, the atmosphere felt inside was very rough.

There were no sculptures or marbles inside the castle, which made it seem a bit insincere.

However, the reason Alon didn’t think it was ‘low level’ was.

“…….”

It was because of the numerous gold and jewels hanging on the rough walls.

Walking along the seemingly endless line of gold and silver treasures, Alon soon arrived at the king’s throne room with Seolang.

He then knelt and greeted the king of Colony who was looking down at him.

“The warrior greets the king of Colony.”

Originally, it would have been proper to introduce himself as a noble, but since he had come to enter the treasure vault, he introduced himself as a warrior.

“Raise your head.”

At the solemn voice, Alon raised his head and could see the king’s face.

A robust middle-aged man with a bold appearance, exuding the authority and confidence of a king at a glance.

“Count Palatio, I watched your match with great interest. It was truly impressive!”

King Carmaxes III of Colony laughed heartily and continued.

“I heard you want to enter the treasure vault. It seems you have something you desire?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Carmaxes nodded a few times at this.

“Then you should take it. The royal family of Colony opens the treasure vault to anyone who proves themselves.”

“Thank you for your generosity.”

“However, I have one more gift to offer. What do you think?”

“…A proposal, Your Majesty?”