I Became the Patron of Villains

129. Are you a heretic? (4)

About a month and two weeks had passed since the artificial foreign god incident caused by Duke Comalon.

“Sigh-“

Stallion V sighed in Tern.

It was a sigh that implied many meanings.

At this point, it was certain that Duke Comalon was the one who caused this foreign god incident, and the Kingdom of Ashtalon had to compensate other kingdoms in some way.

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However, Stallion V was not greatly stressed because of that.

From the moment he grasped the truth of the foreign god incident, he had anticipated that the situation would turn out this way and had prepared countermeasures.

He even managed to conclude reasonable compensation terms after more than a week of meetings during the second emergency meeting held every month.

Nevertheless, the reason his expression was not good was.

‘I shouldn’t have messed with Marquis Palatio back then-‘

Sigh- Stallion V rubbed his temples.

Of course, Marquis Palatio hadn’t done anything to him.

He hadn’t even seen the Marquis’s face since that day.

So the exact cause was Yuman.

He recalled Yuman’s words during this meeting several times.

‘Hmm- Is that so? I think it’s insufficient.’

‘Hmm- I think we need to clearly apologize for this part. It doesn’t look good to pass it over ambiguously. Ah- come to think of it, you did the same last time, didn’t you?’

‘It seems like you’re saying that other countries are also to blame, but it doesn’t sound good.’

One by one. Yuman attacked and found faults whenever Stallion V opened his mouth.

Recalling Yuman’s persistent face, Stallion V couldn’t understand.

The Kingdom of Ashtalon wasn’t very close with Rosario, but they weren’t on bad terms either, and the same went for the Saint.

But that relationship was shattered just because he messed with Marquis Palatio once.

“Sigh-“

His head started to ache.

At the same time, his mind was filled with questions.

‘What on earth is his relationship with Marquis Palatio?’

No matter how much he thought about it, it was strange that Yuman, the saint, was protecting Marquis Palatio.

Marquis Palatio had a close relationship with Cardinal Utia.

And Cardinal Utia and Yuman, the saint of Rosario, were secretly keeping each other in check, though it wasn’t apparent on the surface.

So, it was only natural that Yuman’s attitude, which seemed to side with the Marquis, was suspicious.

Therefore.

‘There must be something about Marquis Palatio… I need to find out.’

Just as he was thinking that he couldn’t let it go.

“Your Majesty, it’s time to attend the meeting.”

“…Let’s go.”

At the sound of the voice, Stalian V rose from his seat.

Unlike before, his face showed a hint of relaxation.

Because from today, Saint Yuman would no longer participate in the meetings.

So, with a slightly lighter heart, he moved his steps.

“……”

“……”

“……”

“……”

As soon as he entered the conference room, which hadn’t been there until yesterday, he found a golden-eyed beast glaring at him as if it would devour him.

“??”

He didn’t understand why the Baba Yaga of the colony was giving him such a look.

“Ah.”

It didn’t take long for him to recall that she had a very close relationship with Marquis Palatio, and he let out a low sigh.

That day.

‘…Marquis Palatio is someone I shouldn’t mess with if I can help it.’

He firmly resolved with a secretly terrified expression.

…Of course, despite that resolution, Stalian V experienced an unusually high number of unfortunate events during his week in Tern.

…It happened in the midst of winter.

It had been about two months since Alon returned to the Marquis’ house.

During that time, Alon spent most of it resting.

Due to none other than magic addiction.

The recovery was so fast that even the priest was surprised, and after some time, he was able to move his body without much difficulty.

But that was only because his body had become lighter; he still couldn’t use magic.

In the end, he spent his days resting, unable to even dream of practical magic exploration.

Of course, that didn’t mean he was completely idle.

He had to fulfill his duties as the lord of the territory.

He had to deal with the tedious and boring paperwork that had piled up.

However, the process wasn’t all that dull.

The reason was-

[Hahaha, you fool- This is my victory.]

“Wow, wait a minute, how did this happen?”

[You fool, thinking you could win against a god itself was arrogance.]

-Because of Basiliora.

Alon looked at the two creatures facing each other in front of a board game similar to chess.

Evan’s shocked expression and Basiliora’s triumphant little spirit body.

Anyone could see the stark contrast in their emotions.

“Hey, let’s play again.”

[Hmph, why should I? Do you think I would spar with a pathetic creature like you again?]

“Stop talking nonsense. You won one out of thirty games, and now you’re talking big?!”

A voice full of resentment.

This time, Alon sympathized with Evan’s feelings.

Basiliora had lost over thirty games to Evan and was now boasting after a lucky win.

It was like a novice winning against an expert in a fighting game and then saying, ‘You’re a noob, lol.’

[Ha- Your level is too low for me to play with.]

“Wow… This snakehead is really making me want to drink snake wine…”

[Hmph, so what can you do? What can you do besides trembling like that-!]

Basiliora opened its mouth wide and coiled its body, raising its small frame.

…Even so, it was only a small spirit body, barely 30cm in total, so it was just cute.

“Marquis! Can’t you summon this guy?!”

“If I summon him, this territory will be completely destroyed.”

“No, not in his original size, but a bit smaller. About my size, can’t you do that?”

“No.”

It was truly impossible.

He also wanted to materialize Basiliora, who was teasing Evan, but unfortunately, it was impossible.

‘…The usage limit of the Salvation of the Wandering One was 5 years… or was it 10 years?’

Alon glanced at the bracelet.

The bracelet, which had been emitting a vivid red light when Basiliora was summoned, had now turned black.

In other words, according to the setting, Alon had to wait 5 to 10 years to use this artifact again.

However, the reason Alon was not too concerned was that there was another way to use this bracelet.

‘Well, even in the game, I used it through a reset without waiting for the reuse time. Maybe… about half a year after the original work started?’

Alon shrugged, thinking of the person who would reset the reuse time of the Salvation.

[As expected, foolish humans cannot defeat me-]

“…Marquis, this guy flinches whenever the Central Tower is mentioned. It seems like there’s something there, so let’s send him there.”

[!? Wait, such a cowardly act-]

Anyway, recently, Alon had been enjoying watching Evan and Basiliora play while doing paperwork.

Time passed, and exactly four months later.

When Alon’s magic addiction gradually disappeared, making it possible to perform one or two spells, and the warmth of spring began to replace the winter chill.

“Evan.”

“Yes.”

“…When did the auction house appear in our territory?”

Alon asked, holding a piece of paper.

“Well, I believe it was about four months ago. Didn’t you already receive a report on it, Marquis?”

“…Yes, I remember that.”

“…? Then why are you asking?”

Alon checked the numbers on the document once more.

“…No, it’s just that for something that appeared only a few months ago, it has paid an enormous amount of taxes.”

The reason he asked about the auction house, even though he knew it already existed, was because of the taxes.

‘…No, how can an auction house that was established only three months ago pay this much tax…?’

Of course, the absolute amount itself wasn’t so large as to make one’s eyes pop out.

But it was large enough that it was hard to believe it came from just a few months of running the auction house.

“Evan.”

“Yes.”

“Can you bring the owner of this auction house?”

“The owner?”

“Yes.”

Alon wanted to meet the owner of the auction house.

For the development of the territory.

It’s a bit awkward to say, but Alon was quite ignorant when it came to running the territory.

Of course, maintaining the territory wasn’t too difficult since he had been handling various documents, but growing it was another matter.

As a result, the current finances of the marquisate had no additional income except for the money Alon was bringing in.

Even if there was, it was consumed by maintenance costs, making it practically break even.

So.

‘…If the auction house is doing well, I could invest in it to expand the business… and maybe create a tourism industry out of it.’

A plan formed in his mind.

He needed to meet the owner of the auction house to discuss business.

Even if the plan seemed plausible, he knew that business had many variables and that those who had experience in business did it well.

After a while, Alon, who had called the owner of the auction house through Evan, was.

“…Huh?”

He couldn’t help but lose his words for a moment.

The identity of the man who was called the owner of the auction house.

“…Alexion?”

“Greetings, Marquis.”

It was because he was too familiar.

####

The life of the adjudicator Alexion was twisted.

If you ask from where, I can say with certainty, it was from the moment he met Radan.

The Pirate King Radan.

After suffering countless injustices from him, in the end, he couldn’t resist Radan’s threats(?) and came to the marquisate.

Alexion sometimes wondered if he had committed some grave sin in a past life, feeling melancholic.

Of course, even in this life, he was living with a multitude of sins…

…Anyway, there were days when he felt that way, but eventually, Alexion managed to bounce back.

His innate business acumen allowed him to brilliantly catch on to the fact that many trade caravans subtly passed through the Marquisate of Palatio,

and through a few additional efforts, he succeeded in creating a thriving auction house in this barren marquisate within just a few months.

“…Why are you here?”

“Haha, it just happened that way.”

Alexion wanted to shout, “Your pirate brother dragged me here by force!!!!” but he barely held it in.

After all, saying such things wouldn’t help him at all.

Moreover, he had been warned by Ladan to behave well if he wanted to live.

Having come to the marquisate to avoid death, it was only natural for him to be cautious with his words.

Anyway, despite the situation being quite uncomfortable, Alexion was currently in a rather good mood.

He had a rough idea of why the marquis had called him.

“…I’m not good with words, so I’ll get straight to the point. I want to invest in developing the territory. Can I hear your opinion?”

The words he had been expecting came right out of the marquis’s mouth.

Of course, it was still too early to be happy.

However, having already known the marquis’s intentions through Ladan,

the marquis’s words sounded like, “I’ll give you money.”

No matter what the marquis was thinking, Alexion was confident in his ability to secure investment from him.

Therefore,

‘How should I go about this? Should I first test the waters with an excuse of linking it to the tourism business and then bring up the auction house expansion?’

He smiled inwardly, thinking about how to win over the marquis who wasn’t hostile towards him.

Of course, he had no intention of scamming someone related to the Pirate King, but he could get ‘a little more’ than he originally intended.

“Ahem-“

As Alexion cleared his throat,

“…?”

his gaze suddenly fell outside the window.

There was a woman on the tree outside.

With blonde hair and dressed in dark clothes, she was staring intently at Alexion. As soon as she confirmed their eye contact, she immediately pulled out a magic orb from her bosom.

And then…

As she smiled slightly, the magic orb emitted light and projected an image in front of Alexion.

His expression hardened in an instant.

[…….]

In the projected screen, there was Radan, looking at Alexion with a very strict, solemn, and serious expression.

“…….”

Dark clouds once again loomed over Alexion’s face.