I Became the Patron of Villains

14. Job Hunting (4)

Lady Zenonia.

No, in fact, for several years now, Kalia Zenonia had been ruling the Count’s family by making her father a puppet, and she had come to the Palatio Count’s family for two main reasons.

One was to confirm the intentions of Alon—no, now the Count of Palatio.

Despite clearly holding a card that could deal a massive blow to the current Zenonia Count’s family, he had not used it.

Though the relationship between the Zenonia and Palatio Count’s families was not bad, she knew that the essence of the Count was of the same ‘kind’ as him.

In other words, she easily understood that he was not the type to feel petty sympathy or triviality and play a good card for such reasons.

She had come to confirm his intentions.

The second reason was to verify the power of the organization that the much-rumored Count of Palatio wielded.

Of course, Kalia also knew that just meeting the Count would not reveal the power of the organization he commanded in the shadows.

However, Kalia had a way to grasp that ‘fragment’.

The wizard Biankel.

He was once praised in academia for presenting a new theory on the ‘magic of the forgotten era’ at the Magic Tower, but he was expelled from the tower due to excessively inhumane magical experiments.

However, even though he was expelled, his rank was as high as the 5th rank.

A strong man who could easily crush a single division of soldiers alone, she brought him along as an ally in exchange for helping with Biankel’s experiments.

If he was a wizard whose main focus was detection magic, at the end of the 5th rank.

She judged that it would not be difficult to lightly grasp the level of the person escorting Count Palatio.

Although the escort did not tell everything, by looking at the level of those escorting the count, one could naturally glimpse the fragments of the organization.

……That was definitely the reason she brought Biankel.

“…….”

Lady Kalia, who glanced around the reception room of Count Palatio’s mansion, was inwardly surprised as she looked at Biankel, who still couldn’t close his mouth properly and had a tense expression.

As far as she knew, he was not someone who made such foolish expressions in front of others.

Biankel’s face was always arrogant, and he never spoke highly to anyone.

Even to her, who was supporting him.

Of course, Kalia understood such a Biankel.

No matter how much he was a wizard expelled from the Magic Tower, the level at the end of the 5th rank gave such an attitude of Biankel legitimacy and rationality.

However, Biankel’s current expression was extremely strange.

His face was still filled with astonishment, as it was earlier, and she could even feel a fear she had never seen before.

‘Why…?’

Looking at Biankel, Kalia felt a sense of wonder and strangeness.

Because she had never seen him show such blatant fear of something.

‘If he is reacting like this…… Could it be that the magic he showed earlier is really the Origin……?’

Kalia only thought about it for a moment, then recalled the current situation and turned her gaze to meet Alon’s eyes.

His eyes were the same as before.

His eyes, which felt extremely indifferent as if he found no value in this situation, slowly scanned Biankel and Kalia.

Silence.

“I’m sorry, Count Palatio. I was rude.”

It was Kalia who first broke the silence.

On the surface, still the Lady of Zenonia, she apologized to the count, who had become a count, for going to the training ground with honorifics.

Although she made an appropriate excuse, it was clearly a rudeness to look into someone else’s training ground, even if it was a mistake.

At those words, Alon was silent for a moment before speaking.

“…Let’s not blame each other.”

“Thank you.”

“Normally, I would ask why you came to the Count’s house next, but before that, let’s make one thing clear.”

“Please, go ahead.”

Without hesitation, Alon spoke in response to Loria’s answer.

“What I used was not Origin. It seems the wizard you brought misunderstood.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. My magical skills are not that exceptional. If I had to rank them… I’d say around the 2nd tier.”

“…”

Naturally, Loria did not believe Alon’s words.

Even though she was ignorant of magic, it was not difficult for her to realize that the magic Alon had shown was extraordinary.

“…”

She glanced at Biankel and was even more surprised.

His expression was worse than before.

However, despite his bad expression, he seemed to have understood the hidden meaning in Alon’s words.

A meaning to keep quiet about what they had seen here.

“It seems I was mistaken.”

“…!”

Biankel struggled to continue speaking.

Calia was once again surprised to see him using formal language, something she hadn’t heard in the past five years.

“Yes, you seem quite capable, so you must have already noticed, but that magic is of no use. Now then, since the misunderstanding is cleared up… why did you come to the Count’s house?”

Without delay, Alon continued the conversation, and Loria quickly gathered her thoughts and answered.

“I didn’t come for anything special. I was just in the area for some business and thought of you, so I decided to visit.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

After a moment of thought, Alon spoke.

“Unfortunately, I have a lot of work, so I don’t think we can talk for long.”

“That’s fine. I just stopped by for a moment. I just wanted to say hello.”

“If you need someone to talk to, it might be good to visit Duke Altia.”

“……Duke Altia, you say?”

“Yes, I think the two of you would get along quite well.”

“If you say so…… I’ll go see the Duke.”

With an indifferent expression, Alon spoke, and Lady Zenonia responded with a smile.

……However, her mouth was dry.

“If it’s the Zenonia Count family…… Why have they come, that ruined family from the west?”

As he watched Lady Zenonia’s carriage gradually disappear into the distance, Alon responded to Evan’s voice.

“I have no idea.”

“Is that so?”

Evan looked puzzled, but Alon had nothing more to say this time either.

He had no idea why Kalia had come.

‘Showing her my magic was a nuisance.’

Alon thought, recalling the Zenonia family’s mage who had mistaken his magic for Origin.

‘As long as the rumor that I use Origin doesn’t spread.’

In this world, rumors have more power than one might think.

If the rumor spread that Alon used Origin, which only the supreme mages in this world could use, it might not seem bad at first glance, but it would actually be a headache.

In this dark fantasy world, you can easily find crazy people who can’t wait to pick a fight with the strong.

‘……Well, if I had a reliable backer, it might be different.’

Without a backer, if a strange rumor spread, it would be more than just a nuisance; absurdly strong people might pick a fight with him for no reason.

When the rumor spread that he could use Origin, he could think of at least eight strong people who would come looking for him, so he tried to quickly block the rumor in advance.

‘……I hope she understood?’

As he recalled the mage who nodded as if understanding when he tried to clear up the misunderstanding one more time before sending Lady Zenonia away.

He continued his thoughts with an uncomfortable expression.

‘Why on earth is she interested in me?’

To Alon, Kalia was not just someone he wasn’t interested in; she was someone he wanted to avoid getting involved with as much as possible.

If they became close, the chances of getting entangled with the underworld would naturally increase.

‘……I did introduce her to Duke Altia.’

He knew that Lady Zenonia would never go to see her.

Nevertheless, the reason he introduced Duke Altia was merely to convey the meaning one more time.

Conveying the meaning that I don’t particularly want to have a relationship with you.

‘Don’t come to me alone.’

Just as Alon was about to cut off his thoughts about Kalia.

Inside the carriage that was returning.

“……Was the magic used by Count Palatio really Origin?”

Kalia was asking.

“……”

Unlike his usual immediate responses, Biankel remained silent.

Just as Kalia was about to open her mouth again.

“It’s not Origin.”

Biankel spoke.

“……Not Origin? Then what was that form you showed earlier……?”

At Kalia’s puzzled question, he took a breath as if to calm himself and spoke.

“‘Origin’ is the endpoint and canvas for all magicians. A canvas allowed only to those who have established magic as ‘reason,’ where they can draw their own unique laws.”

“……”

“We call the unique, proprietary arrangement and implementation of magic, drawn on an unchanging canvas, Origin. But-“

He swallowed once and spoke.

“-Count Palatio’s magic is different.”

“……In what way……?”

“It’s not about drawing on the canvas. Rather, to be precise, his magic was no different from tearing the canvas apart.”

As Kalia looked at him with a confused expression, Biankel continued.

“In short, he was twisting the ‘reason’ that should be absolutely unchangeable. The moment I saw his magic, I was using the ‘Observation Eye’ at your request, and I clearly saw it.”

Biankel muttered.

“Fixing an unstoppable lightning, twisting the laws to re-collapse the magic that was implemented – yet still being implemented intact, an unbelievable miracle. And behind that-“

He stopped speaking for a moment.

In that moment, the image of Count Palatio he had seen earlier came to mind.

Showing an unbelievable magic. Unless one had overwhelming talent, one could only open their eyes to it after reaching the 6th rank.

With the fragment of talent he had, he had reached the end of the 5th rank and obtained it.

What he saw with the ‘eyes’ that could perceive the world itself.

“……”

It was an eye.

A black eye as dark as pitch.

With two red rings attached to its eyelids, it appeared in sync with the Count’s use of magic.

As soon as the magic disappeared, so did the eye, erasing its presence. Bianchel, recalling it, could not erase the fear that filled his eyes.

If it was as he knew, what appeared when the Count used magic was surely the forgotten great god’s—

“…Ugh.”

Bianchel, thinking up to that point, forcibly stopped his thoughts using magic.

Having sought ancient knowledge, he realized how dangerous it was to infer its identity through further thought.

Therefore.

“One piece of advice.”

“…”

“Never cross paths with him—Count Palatio. Do not oppose him.”

“What—”

“That’s all the advice I can give you.”

Bianchel stopped speaking there.

Likewise, Lady Zenonia also remained silent.

At the same time, recalling Alon, who had looked at her with calm eyes without any expression, Kalia naturally—

“Ha…”

Unknowingly, she let out a self-deprecating smile.

Because she had realized through Bianchel’s words.

That understanding Count Palatio’s intentions was meaningless from the start.

At the same time.

‘If you need someone to talk to, it might be good to visit Duke Altia.’

‘Duke Altia, you say?’

‘Yes, I think the two of you would get along quite well.’

Because she had realized that she had already become one of the chess pieces.

In the returning carriage, silence lingered for a while.

And about five months later.

Now quite accustomed to the work, Alon, who was skillfully handling the Count’s tasks, said.

“…Ah, Count. Did you hear about that?”

“What?”

“They say the Count of Zenonia and the Duke of Altia have formed an alliance.”

“…What?”

He realized that a crisis had befallen the Kingdom of Asteria.