I Became the Patron of Villains

28. Isn’t This a Bit Too Much? (4)

Three days after obtaining the Ring of the Arrogant One, they began preparing to leave for the north.

As soon as the knights and soldiers, who had completed all the preparations for the expedition, were ready, the expedition set off for the north.

And just a few hours after the expedition departed.

“Deus Macallian.”

A man approached Deus.

With blue hair and a vertical scar on his face, he was Fiola, one of Caliban’s master knights and known as the fourth sword.

“You laid hands on my disciple.”

With an endlessly cold expression, not hiding the anger in his eyes, Fiola asked. Deus replied with an indifferent expression.

“Your disciple was rude to my benefactor.”

“Ha, do you think that justifies beating someone else’s disciple senseless?”

“Then, do you think it doesn’t?”

“…”

Fiola frowned at Deus’s words.

The anger that clearly appeared on his face, along with the magic power radiating around him, quickly dominated the surroundings, causing cold sweat to form on the faces of the knights. However, Deus, who directly faced that magic power and killing intent…

“Consider yourself lucky that I didn’t kill him, Piola.”

He then exuded an even more chilling purple aura, pressing down on Piola.

It was a tense atmosphere, as if a knife fight would break out the moment someone drew their blade, but after a brief moment…

“Tsk.”

It was Piola who turned away first.

Clicking his tongue and averting his gaze, he looked at Count Palatio behind Deus.

“…Don’t think this is over.”

With those words, he returned to his resting unit.

Alon, who had been watching, thought to himself,

‘Terrifyingly scary.’

Watching Piola walk away, he felt a tingling sensation in his hand, unconsciously clenching and unclenching his fist.

‘As expected of a Master Knight.’

Just the natural scattering of his aura due to emotional agitation was enough to make him feel suffocated, and as he was having these thoughts…

“Crazy… He’s a complete monster.”

Evan, who was beside him, also felt the power of the Master Knight, sweating and cursing. Alon, who was watching him, turned his gaze back to Deus.

Seeing Deus standing there, receiving the tingling aura head-on without a change in expression, Alon was reminded once again that he was a Master Knight.

Of course, it wasn’t that he hadn’t been aware of it before, but recently Deus had been quite humble towards Alon, so this sight was rather refreshing.

‘…Well, except for me, he seems to treat everyone else like dirt.’

Recalling the rumors he had heard a few days ago and the time Deus had told Evan to “shut up, old man,” Alon nodded slightly.

‘Rescuing his sister was the right move, after all?’

At first, he hadn’t understood why Deus was so obedient to him, but now he had a vague idea.

In fact, it wasn’t even a guess; just seeing how Deus treated his sister was enough to answer that question.

‘This, this, if I call him during a crisis while living as a count, won’t he come running to help?’

Thinking this with a slight smile hidden in his expressionless face, Alon shrugged lightly and returned to the carriage.

The expedition to the north continued.

After two weeks and three more days had passed.

The expedition army, having crossed the border between Caliban and the north, arrived at the first outpost.

They soon heard three pieces of news.

The first was the news of the death of Delman, the third sword, who had been missing since the eastern outpost of Caliban collapsed and the appearance of the foreign god.

The second was the news that Kiriana, the second sword, who had gone on an expedition to the western forward base earlier than the others, had been seriously injured in a fight with the foreign god.

And the final news.

“…The undead, you say?”

It was the news that the foreign god was approaching the outpost, leading the undead.

“Yes. The foreign god is dragging along the soldiers and knights he has killed, turning them into the undead.”

At the messenger’s words, Fiola let out a deep sigh and muttered.

“This is troublesome.”

“……”

Deus, who was listening to the story together, also chose to remain silent.

If the messenger’s words were true, the situation was essentially unfavorable for Caliban.

“……”

Only silence lingered in the conference room.

Neither the master knights nor the nobles leading the soldiers could easily open their mouths in such a situation.

“……How about we retreat for now?”

As one noble cautiously began to voice his opinion, various opinions began to pour out in an instant.

“Are you out of your mind? Are you suggesting we turn our backs on the barbarians and run away?”

“That’s not it, I’m saying we should wait for the right moment since the situation is unfavorable! Besides, the second sword is also in critical condition, and Reinhardt hasn’t returned from seclusion, do you think we have a chance of winning?”

“Do you think we can escape from the barbarians who are advancing to the outpost with so many injured at this point!?”

The conference room quickly became noisy.

But in the end, the opinions of the nobles were largely meaningless.

After all, the heads of this expedition were the two master knights.

So, when the nobles, who had been exchanging opinions for a long time, looked at Fiola and Deus,

“…Let’s think about it for a moment, we’ll reconvene shortly, so for now, everyone cool your heads.”

With those words, Fiola stood up from her seat.

Deus also stood up silently and turned his body to leave the tent.

As he stepped out of the tent, what he saw was the gray land that looked no different from usual.

“……”

But to Deus, who had become a master knight and reached a certain level, able to see the tangible form of magic, the gray land looked completely different.

A red snowfield.

At least to Deus’s eyes, the gray world looked like that.

He silently observed the ominous red magic that gnawed at the sky, a beautiful yet chilling, strange world that even he couldn’t help but feel intimidated by.

After glancing at Fiola, who was likely witnessing the same scene, he quickly turned his gaze to the other side.

There was Alon, the Great Moon.

Despite the horrifying world before him, he was blankly warming himself by the fire and eating sweet potatoes, with no change in his expression.

Unlike Deus, who couldn’t take his eyes off the red world, Alon didn’t spare a single glance at it. Instead, he ate his food while muttering something.

“Diffraction, condensation, singularity, annihilation-“

As if he had seen this world many times before, the Great Moon muttered words that Deus couldn’t understand.

Deus, who was staring blankly at him, soon felt a surge of curiosity about why Alon had come to the north.

Of course, he had some idea that the Great Moon was here to deal with the outer gods, but that didn’t quell all his curiosity.

After all, the Great Moon that Deus saw didn’t seem to possess great power, whether in the past or now.

‘Maybe he just can’t see this scene…’

Deus glanced up at the red sky.

This scene, which only those who had reached enlightenment could see, was so horrifying that it naturally made him frown.

But if he just couldn’t see it?

Then the Great Moon’s actions were somewhat understandable.

Just as he was thinking that.

“Ah, just get lost-!”

At the sudden loud voice, Deus turned his gaze to see a knight and a wizard confronting each other.

“Please, just a little more! You know how serious the situation is!”

“I know, but no matter how hard I try, I can’t do anything more! And I have to go!”

“Just one more time…!”

“No, I said no, you blockheads!!”

The wizard hysterically shouted. Despite that, the knights clung to the wizard.

Deus easily recognized the knights clinging to the wizard as members of the ‘Silver Shadow,’ the second sword of Caliban, through their armor.

‘…The deputy tower master of the Blue Tower?’

He realized that the person opposite was Fenia, the deputy tower master of the Blue Tower.

“Seriously, I already have so much to do because I was dragged here for research, why are you being so clingy?!”

“But isn’t human life more important…!”

“I told you, the treatment is already done and there’s nothing more I can do from my perspective! Don’t you understand!? It’s not that I don’t want to do it, I’ve done everything I can!”

Deus, who was wondering about the hysterical behavior of the girl known as the rising star of the magic world, a genius who reached the 6th rank at a young age, soon understood.

He recalled that a place had been set up at Caliban’s outpost to collaborate with the wizards of the Blue Tower to research the ‘rituals’ of the barbarians.

‘Butapju… Strong.’

Deus, who had recalled up to that point, paused as he sensed the unusual aura emanating from her.

“Anyway, stop asking for more and just watch carefully! And I need to go, so move aside!”

Pushing the knights aside irritably, Fenia soon frowned deeply as she saw Deus standing in her path and opened her mouth-

“What-”

-couldn’t finish.

“…See?”

“…?”

He looked at Fenia, who had a blank expression for a moment, with a puzzled look.

But Deus soon realized that she was not looking at him, but at someone behind him.

“Uh, why…?”

With a clear, bewildered voice that anyone could hear, a distinct fear began to appear in Fenia’s eyes.

As if she had seen something that should never exist.

Even subtly trembling, Deus naturally turned his gaze to where Fenia’s eyes were fixed.

There.

“…?”

Alon, who had been chewing on a sweet potato until a moment ago, was looking at Deus and Fenia with a bewildered expression.

And then, after a brief moment.

“It’s been a while, Butapju.”

“Yes, yes. Hello…!”

“How have you been?”

“I, I’ve been well…!”

The hysterical appearance of Fenia, whom he had clearly recognized as a strong person, was nowhere to be seen, and she was just shrinking endlessly with her head down like a cat abandoned on the street. Deus looked at her with a blank expression.

‘Was I just ignorant?’

…Deus reflected on himself quietly.