I Became the Patron of Villains

25. Isn’t it a bit too much? (1)

Carmine, the third son of Duke Comalon, had been very irritable for the past week.

Although the recent marriage proposal had ended in a broken state, what was currently irritating Carmine even more was Count Palatio.

At this banquet, he tried to relieve his stress by humiliating Count Palatio, but instead, he was publicly humiliated.

Of course, it was purely because of Carmine that such a thing happened.

If he hadn’t commented on the appearance of other young ladies, the marriage talks would have proceeded smoothly as before, and if he hadn’t touched Count Palatio, he wouldn’t have had to suffer such humiliation.

However, Carmine had completely forgotten that he was the one who started the fight, and only thought about what he had suffered, repeatedly recalling that scene.

At least, it was the first time in his life that he had experienced such an absurd humiliation.

Yes, Carmine had never experienced such humiliation under the shadow of Duke Comalon, the pillar of the kingdom, so that scene was deeply engraved in his mind.

For about ten days, Carmine often ground his teeth while thinking about that incident.

As soon as he arrived at Duke Comalon’s territory, he opened his mouth as if he had made a decision.

“Hey.”

“Yes, young master.”

“Where did that b*stard say he was going?”

“The Count Palatio you mentioned last time said he had to visit Caliban-“

Without listening to the knight’s words, he went straight into his room and hurriedly opened the desk drawer.

Inside the drawer were numerous crystal balls.

Among them, Carmine picked up the crystal ball on the far right, took out the magic stone from his bosom, and brought it to the magic ball.

With that, the crystal ball began to shine brightly.

How much time had passed?

As the bright light of the crystal ball gradually dimmed,

[Who is this? Isn’t it my friend Carmine?]

A voice was heard.

“Let me get straight to the point. I need your help.”

Carmine spoke while holding the magic ball.

[Huh? Help? With what?]

“Count Palatio is on his way now. Take care of him for me.”

[Take care of him? Count Palatio?]

Someone inside the crystal ball asked back as if they didn’t understand the situation.

“You don’t have to kill him, just make him half-dead.”

But at Carmine’s continued words, the man inside the crystal ball remained silent for a moment, then tried to speak.

[No matter what, that’s a bit-]

“Five.”

[……What?]

“If you take care of that b*stard, I’ll give you five more. You need them, don’t you? To improve your skills.”

[Ha…….]

The man inside the crystal ball chuckled at Carmine’s continued words and asked back.

“Are you serious? You can get five of them?”

“As long as you complete my task properly, it’s entirely possible.”

The man inside the crystal ball fell silent at Carmine’s words.

“You can do it, can’t you?”

[Ha…….]

But he laughed as if he had no choice at Carmine’s continued words.

“My friend knows me too well, doesn’t he? How does he know me so well, playing with my heart like that!”

“Are you going to do it or not?”

“I just need to take care of him, right?”

“Yes. As cruelly as possible.”

“Wow, you must have really pissed off your friend. Anyway, got it. I’ll contact you again after the job is done, so see you then.”

With those words, the communication ended.

The room became quiet as if the conversation from a moment ago had been a lie.

But what was different from before was.

Heehee-

‘You didn’t think I’d just let it slide after you humiliated me, did you?’

Carmine’s lips curled up in a sinister smile.

“Finally, we’re here?”

“Yes, indeed.”

It’s been about two weeks since they met the protagonist of this world, Elivan.

Alon, who was looking at the capital city of Caliban, Kirdam, in the distance, turned his gaze to the back of the carriage.

Various gifts were loaded in the back of the carriage, all of which were, of course, for Deus, whom they were about to meet.

“Ugh, I’m so tired, really.”

Evan yawned tiredly as he looked at the gifts.

Indeed, as he said, Alon also felt the fatigue.

“A long journey is always tiring.”

“…It would have been more peaceful if we hadn’t gone to that labyrinthine place.”

The reason was that Alon and Evan were on a rather long journey, but also because Alon had visited many places in the past week.

“It was unavoidable.”

Alon replied to Evan’s words.

In fact, the reason he had been wandering around so persistently over the past week on his way to Caliban was to prepare for the fight with the foreign press.

The lotus-shaped necklace hanging around his neck, which wasn’t there two weeks ago, was also one of the preparation items.

So Alon naturally diverted Evan’s gaze and said,

“Deus has returned from the expedition, right?”

“Yes, he should be here.”

Alon was silent for a moment at Evan’s words before speaking.

“…He will meet us, right?”

“…He will probably meet us, won’t he?”

Evan answered Alon’s question.

However, despite Evan’s answer, Alon was actually a bit skeptical.

‘It’s not about meeting him, it’s about getting him to do the favor… Will it be difficult?’

Of course, Alon had provided Deus with a lot of financial support and even saved his life from falling into the abyss of misfortune.

In other words, in terms of cause and effect, he was clearly in the ranks of a benefactor.

But that was only in terms of cause and effect, and in reality, from Deus’s perspective, Alon was likely to be recognized as just a grateful person who had spent money somewhere to save him, without ever having met him face to face.

That was because Alon had never met Deus directly.

Naturally, having never met him, there was no intimacy, so when he arrived in Kirdam, he was slightly worried.

‘I can only pray that the gift will be well received.’

So, when Alon was thinking that, he had already reached the northern gate of Kirdam and started to line up for inspection to enter the capital as usual.

Even if he was a noble, he had to undergo inspection when outside the Asteria Kingdom.

So, after briefly telling the soldier who came to verify his identity, Alon was waiting for Evan to finish the inspection while watching the line of carriages slowly move.

“Excuse me, Count?”

“Yes?”

“We have a bit of a problem.”

Evan poked his head into the carriage and spoke, causing Alon to tilt his head in confusion, but he soon nodded and got off.

There, he found a knight with a very confident expression.

Alon tilted his head as he looked at the knight with red hair and a lion emblem on his chest, who looked undeniably rude. The knight spoke.

“Are you Count Palatio?”

“Yes, I am.”

Despite meeting for the first time, the knight spoke informally, as if to show that physiognomy in the fantasy world was generally accurate.

As Alon responded, Evan, who was beside him, whispered in his ear.

“That knight seems to be a disciple of Piola.”

“……Piola?”

“Yes, you know, the Fourth Sword.”

At Evan’s words, Alon finally let out a low exclamation.

Recalling Piola, known as the Master Knight and the Fourth Sword, he nodded but still wore a puzzled expression.

“So, why is the disciple of the Fourth Sword here? ……And with other knights too.”

As Alon glanced around, he saw many knights with lion emblems, just like Piola.

“……What business do you have with me?”

Turning his gaze back to Piola’s disciple, he spoke. The knight, with a leisurely smile, walked closer.

“First, I am Vilan, Piola’s direct disciple.”

“……So?”

“I heard that my friend owed you a bit of a debt.”

“Friend?”

When Alon asked again, Vilan smiled and continued.

“Yes, a friend.”

“I don’t have any significant connections in Caliban.”

“My friend isn’t connected to Caliban either. He’s in the Kingdom of Ashtalon.”

At those words, Alon unconsciously muttered, “The Kingdom of Ashtalon…?” and soon let out a low exclamation, “Ah.”

“……Carmine?”

“Yes, you remember. That friend contacted me.”

At Vilan’s words, Alon wore a dumbfounded expression.

‘I didn’t do anything to that guy… ……Wait, how many weeks has it been?’

For a moment, he marveled at the tattling of the pathetic scoundrel who ran to his friends in just over two weeks.

“I also owe that guy a bit. I have to at least make a show of it.”

“Did you wait here all this time just to make that show?”

“To be precise, I was waiting for contact. All carriages from the Kingdom of Asteria pass through here.”

Alon felt dizzy at Biran’s words, shaking his head regretfully but helplessly.

Of course, no matter how noble one is, their power significantly diminishes in another kingdom, but even so, they shouldn’t be treated like this in front of the castle gate.

“So, what do you plan to do?”

“I’ll give you two options. The items in the carriage seem quite valuable, how about gifting them all to us?”

“And the other option?”

“Being imprisoned in the underground dungeon for about three weeks.”

“……You do know that I’m a noble from another country, right?”

He asked because imprisoning a foreign noble without any reason would naturally hold a common noble accountable.

“I am the only direct disciple of Lord Fiola.”

At these words, Alon could only make a dumbfounded expression.

What Biran was essentially saying was, ‘Even if I cause some trouble, I have enough rank to avoid any consequences.’

But the funny thing was that Biran’s words were somewhat true.

Here, Alon was just a foreign noble, but Biran was the only direct disciple of a Master Knight.

‘They’re really just playing among themselves.’

Thinking that they were truly playing among themselves, Alon sighed, and Biran, seeing this, gave a sly smile.

“But, in fact, the result will be similar no matter which option you choose.”

He subtly pressed his sword against Alon’s stomach.

“After all, the only thing my friend asked for was this.”

“……”

Biran threatened Alon without a care.

At that moment, Evan, who had been quietly standing by, began to frown and unconsciously moved his hand towards the sword at his waist.

“Huh, huh-!”

At the voice coming from behind, Alon and Biran turned their gazes.

There, Alon could see.

‘Deus Macallian……?’

Deus, wearing black iron armor and with a cold expression, was walking towards them.

The moment he appeared, the atmosphere in front of the castle gate became heavy as if it were a lie.

Even though only one person had appeared, the soldiers widened their eyes and adjusted their postures, and the knights, who had been wearing relaxed expressions until just a moment ago, also straightened up with tense expressions.

“Chung-!”

As soon as they saw Deus, the soldiers who had been leisurely observing the situation until a moment ago all raised their swords in salute, but Deus did not look at them.

“We greet the Great Sword-!”

Similarly, the knights of ‘Yuzon’ that Biran had brought shouted with respect, but likewise, Deus did not look at them either.

Instead.

Deus moved his steps precisely towards where Alon was.

Seeing this, Biran hurriedly moved the sword that was heading towards Alon and tried to open his mouth.

Crash-!

“Ugh-!”

Deus’s hand grabbed his neck.

“W-What-!”

Biran hurriedly grabbed Deus’s hand and protested.

“What are you doing?”

At the words that came out of his mouth, Biran’s expression, with his neck grabbed, turned pale.

“How dare you to my benefactor.”