I Became the Patron of Villains

19. Somali Pirates (1)

Selahim Mikardo, one of the five officially recognized 8th-tier mages of the Blue Tower.

He had gone on a business trip to the north, where the barbarians were, a few months ago, and upon returning to the Blue Tower, he immediately sensed that something had happened.

The first reason was that the presence of the guardian spirit, which he always felt upon returning to the tower, was gone.

The other reason was his disciple, Fenia, an 8th-tier mage with such talent that even he, an 8th-tier mage, could say she was “blessed with dazzling talent.”

Fenia, whom he had always observed, had an arrogant personality that pierced the sky due to her talent.

Of course, in the past, she had at least shown minimal respect to her master, Selahim, but as she reached the 6th tier at a young age and took the position of vice tower master, she began to show a slightly arrogant attitude towards him as well.

…In fact, he knew that the reason for her arrogant attitude was not just because she looked down on her master, but also because she was always overwhelmed with paperwork whenever he went on business trips.

Anyway, despite all that, Fenia had achieved too much for her age and was excessively arrogant, but Selahim had never thought of correcting it.

For a mage who seeks knowledge, arrogance is an emotion to be wary of, but at least in her pursuit of knowledge, Fenia was not arrogant.

Moreover, he believed that her personality would be sufficiently corrected once she reached the 7th tier.

No matter how talented and arrogant a mage was, they had no choice but to become humble upon reaching the 7th tier.

For a mage who reached the 7th tier would realize how insignificant their achievements had been.

That was why he left her be…

“Are you saying Count Palatio came and closed the guardian spirit?”

“Yes.”

Selime looked at Fenia, who answered weakly.

It was a peculiar sight to see her, who never lowered her stern gaze even when dealing with her master, now speaking cautiously as if she was wary of something, her eyes drooping as if she had lost her energy.

“…The Count has closed the gates, but he couldn’t say how he closed them due to the oath of magic.”

“…That’s right.”

Fenia muttered, her spirit broken.

Seeing this unfamiliar sight, Selime made a thoughtful expression and recalled the Count Palatio mentioned in the story, but unfortunately, he had little information about the Count in his mind.

The Blue Tower was quite far from the Kingdom of Asteria.

The only thing he knew was the rumor that the current Count Palatio had killed all his brothers and taken the title of Count a few years ago.

Therefore, Selime couldn’t hide his growing curiosity about Alon.

He knew that Fenia was not the type to easily break her arrogance.

Was that all? Her talent originally supported that arrogance.

And there was only one way to take away that arrogance beyond her talent.

‘Magic that even Fenia’s talent couldn’t fully understand… No, Origin.’

Having reached that conclusion, Selime smiled.

Feeling a growing interest in the Count of a small kingdom he didn’t know well.

The next day.

Alon, who had now become very accustomed to receiving letters from Utia every one to two months, checked the letter and thought as he read it.

‘There’s nothing special.’

As always, Utia’s letter contained nothing special, just the contents of daily life.

How she was doing at the monastery and trivial stories about the recent status of the Five Great Sins with whom she had been in contact recently.

But he preferred these trivial stories over peculiar incidents being mentioned in the letters.

The fact that there was nothing special meant that the Five Great Sins were doing very well.

…Of course, it was a bit lonely that the other guys who were doing so well didn’t even send a single letter, but Alon understood that too.

‘It’s probably because we’ve never met face to face.’

Naturally, he had never visited the orphanage, so he had never met the Five Great Sins face to face.

Although he had provided a lot of financial support, from the perspective of the Five Great Sins, Alon was likely perceived as just a grateful old man.

…In fact, he thought it was more likely that he was perceived as just an old man who had been kind in the past, but he didn’t mind.

His original purpose was not to gain the affection of the Five Great Sins, but to guide them on the right path so that they wouldn’t destroy the kingdoms.

The goal had already been splendidly achieved, so there was no need for regret.

“Hmm hmm…”

Even so, Alon couldn’t help but feel a twinge of sadness, but as he looked at Yutia’s letter, he smiled inwardly, though his face remained expressionless.

The others had never sent a letter from start to finish, but Yutia, despite her life as a nun, had been sending letters steadily once a month.

It wasn’t anything grand, but Alon felt a warm feeling in his heart whenever he recalled that fact.

It was like raising five children, and none of them sent a single letter, not even thinking about the gratitude they owed, but the eldest daughter seemed to recognize his efforts.

‘Indeed, there’s no one like Yutia.’

As Alon was experiencing the peculiar feeling of a father who had become a doting fool for his daughter.

Knock knock-

With a short knock, Evan entered.

“What is it?”

“Ah, I meant to tell you when I saw you at the training ground yesterday, but I forgot. Didn’t you ask me to look into something last time?”

“Indeed.”

As Evan said, Alon had once asked him to check with the information guild to see how the Five Great Sins were doing.

In the past, Yutia’s letters alone showed what the other sins were up to, but recently, even Yutia’s letters rarely mentioned what the other sins were doing.

“So, did you find out?”

“Yes, but there was no need to check with the information guild. Some of them are quite notorious. Especially Deus and Seolang.”

As Alon gestured for him to continue, Evan fully entered the office, organizing his thoughts for a moment before speaking.

“First, about Seolang. I’ve heard rumors that she has already become a warrior close to ‘Babayaga’. They say she has a winning streak of 32.”

“…32 wins in a row?”

“Yes.”

“Is that even possible?”

“Honestly, I also thought it was unbelievable, but from what I’ve heard, it seems to be true.”

“……”

“Moreover, among those 32 wins, there was only one match that went beyond ten moves. Thanks to that, the other Babayagas are quite tense.”

“That certainly seems to be the case.”

Alon nodded, still in disbelief.

‘Babayaga’ is an honorable title held by only four people in the colony, and that number never increases.

In other words, the moment Seolang achieves the record of 100 wins to challenge Babayaga, one of the four Babayagas will have to fight her.

“…As far as I know, wasn’t the Lion King the warrior with the most consecutive wins in the colony?”

“It must be. I think it was a 41-win streak.”

“…So, if you win 9 more times, you’ll surpass the Lion King.”

“That’s right.”

Evan nodded in response to the question, recalling the overpowered ally character, the Lion King, who briefly joins as a companion during the game.

With that, Alon realized anew that the talents of the Sins were of an absurd kind.

As far as he knew, among the fighters active in the Colony, there were some mediocre ones, but there were also many formidable strong ones.

Despite the fact that the Colony relied on the fighters for most of its military power, other kingdoms couldn’t easily pick a fight with them.

And the fact that she had maintained a winning streak in such a place was proof of her talent, which made Alon wear a surprised expression. Evan continued speaking.

“And there’s also a rumor about Deus.”

“What’s the rumor?”

“The rumor is that Deus and his knight order, Eclipse, have taken down Kurga of the Snowfield, one of the eight chieftains of the barbarians.”

“…One of the eight chieftains?”

“Yes. One of the eight chieftains. You know, those monsters who have transcended into superhumans through rituals.”

Even without Evan’s explanation, Alon knew about the eight chieftains.

More precisely, he already knew from the game how absurdly powerful the eight chieftains were.

To obtain the special magical equipment needed to become a glass cannon in Psychedelia, one had to fight the barbarians and deal with the gods they worshipped.

‘Just thinking about it makes me dizzy…’

Alon felt a momentary dizziness.

Even though it had been over five years since he encountered Ultultus in the game, Ultultus was still strong enough to make his stomach churn.

Especially since, according to the lore, if Ultultus, who descended as a spirit, awakened and became a true deity, he would gain power comparable to the Five Great Sins.

In other words, if Ultultus awakened in the north, there was a possibility that the kingdom would be overrun even if it wasn’t by the Five Great Sins. However, Alon had a reason to be relaxed.

‘It’s a relief that there’s no chance of meeting him.’

As far as he knew, Ultultus wouldn’t appear unless the Five Great Sins descended.

In the first place, according to the lore, Ultultus appeared when a god who combined with the Five Great Sins descended and the laws of the world were broken.

In other words, unless a god who created the Five Great Sins descended and broke laws that even Alon couldn’t grasp, there was no reason for Ultultus to descend.

“…Deus is going to live well.”

“Living well is an understatement. He succeeded in killing a chieftain that even Master Knights struggle with, so he’s practically being treated like the First Sword, Reinhardt.”

Hearing Deus’s words, Alon felt a slight regret.

‘…Should I have visited him about three times a year?’

Thinking that the benefits from the Master Knight would be sweet, Alon swallowed his bitter thoughts and listened to Evan talk about Line, who was working as an appraiser in the labyrinth city as planned.

“Black Mark?”

“Yes. They say that the shop run by Rine can imprint a black mark that enhances the abilities of artifacts.”

“…That’s fascinating.”

He was briefly amazed by an ability he had never seen even in the game. Then he asked about the whereabouts of the last remaining person.

“What about Radan?”

In fact, the reason he had asked Evan to investigate the rumors about the Five Great Sins was because of his curiosity about Radan.

Radan had been missing for about half a year since Yutia’s letter, although he was later than Seollang.

Of course, he wasn’t particularly worried since he had heard that Radan had arrived safely in Raxas and was learning his work well, but he was curious because Radan’s whereabouts had become completely unknown since then.

However.

“I haven’t found that part yet. The information guild has some information, but they asked for a little more time. They said they could determine if it’s more reliable information if given about a week.”

“If that’s the case…”

He felt a slight doubt at Evan’s continued words but soon nodded.

About two weeks later.

Alon was contemplating whether to attend the ‘Asteria Social Gathering,’ which is held every three years and attended by all the nobles, as he returned to his office after exploring the phrases as usual.

“Count…!”

“…?”

Alon was about to say something at the sudden appearance of Evan, who burst into the room without knocking.

“It seems Radan has become a pirate…?”

“…What?”

Alon was momentarily stunned by the words that followed.

“Do you know the Seven Archipelago?”

“…Are you talking about the place where the seven great pirates stay in front of Raxas?”

“Yes. They say he has become the captain ruling over the entire island of the largest archipelago among the Seven Archipelago.”

“Really…?”

“Yes.”

At Evan’s continued words, a post he had seen on the internet a long time ago flashed through Alon’s mind.

It was a post about a child who had consistently supported UNICEF for eight years and then became a Somali pirate.

“…”

Alon felt as if he could understand the feelings of the post’s author and was frozen by the fact that Radan had become a great pirate.