Raising Villains the Right Way

The next day.

“Are you leaving now?”

“Yes, I’ve taken care of everything I needed to.”

“Haha, well, I’m sorry again that I wasn’t much help this time either, Brother.”

Radan scratched his head awkwardly with a sheepish grin, but Alon simply looked at him with his usual blank expression.

“Don’t think that way. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have even been able to start the fight. You definitely helped.”

“Really…?”

“I mean it.”

After exchanging a few more words with Radan, Alon turned to leave.

“Well then, I should get going now.”

“Understood, Brother! I’ll see you again later!”

Radan gave his final farewell to Alon.

And he stood there, watching Alon’s back for a long while.

Finally, when Alon disappeared from view—

Radan wiped the smile off his face in an instant, returning to a calm, neutral expression.

“Hoo—”

He stared at the empty spot Alon had left behind, then returned to his room and ran a hand down his face.

A deep sigh followed.

‘I wasn’t any help this time either.’

Radan furrowed his brow as he recalled the battle against the Sin of Sloth.

Back then, if he was being honest, he hadn’t been of much help.

Sure, the item Brother gave him had temporarily summoned a stronger version of himself, and it did contribute at the end—

But that wasn’t some hidden talent of his.

Even if Alon had given it to Seolrang or Eliban instead, the outcome probably wouldn’t have changed.

Suddenly, Radan thought of Seolrang.

Even if she used to be like him, she had clearly changed since last time.

No, it wasn’t just a small change.

‘She’s definitely gotten stronger.’

Yes, she had grown stronger.

It might not be obvious on the surface yet, but Radan could feel it clearly.

She was growing more powerful.

And he could tell—she was only going to get stronger.

But Radan?

He was the same.

It wasn’t that Radan hadn’t put in the effort.

After being summoned by Alon in Greynifra and fighting the Sin, he had been constantly striving to improve ever since.

He trained more than usual.

He searched for more relics and studied how to use them.

But no matter how hard he worked—

Radan wasn’t getting any stronger.

Sure, every time he obtained a relic and learned how to use it, it expanded what he could do.

But that was just adding variety to his abilities, not truly strengthening him.

That sense of helplessness.

The anxiety of watching his companions move forward while he remained stuck in place.

It began to fill his heart like black mud.

[Hey—]

“Huh?”

A voice rang out in the empty room—one that sounded far too similar to his own.

Radan’s face instantly tensed.

But only for a moment.

[No need to be so tense.]

Then Radan realized the voice was coming from something in his pocket.

He reached in and pulled out the source of the voice.

And—

“This thing…”

The sound had come from the blue gem.

The very same blue gem Alon had given him right after the battle with the Sin.

Radan stared intently at the gem.

When he’d first received the blue gem passed on by Alon’s ‘future self’—

Radan wondered if it held some kind of special power.

But he was wrong.

It was just a glowing gem, nothing more.

It didn’t contain any kind of special magic.

So while he hadn’t understood why his future self had given it to him, he’d simply carried it around.

[Finally relaxed a bit?]

“...You’re…”

As the voice spoke again, Radan felt a strange sense of unease.

It didn’t take long for him to realize what was off.

No—it was impossible not to realize it.

“Me…?”

The voice coming from the gem.

The one that sounded just like his own.

No—it was his voice.

[Correct.]

The blue gem replied cheerfully.

[Before we go any further, let me say—don’t bother asking how I did this. I’m not answering.]

“What?”

[I didn’t have enough time to embed a full consciousness. I’ve only got maybe… five minutes left to talk?]

No, probably even less.

Murmuring to itself, the gem quickly continued.

[Starting now, I’m going to tell you how to get stronger. You’re stuck right now, wondering what a useless version of yourself can do to grow stronger in this place—or maybe you’re just worried about not falling behind, yeah? That’s what I thought, at least. Though maybe your situation’s a little different—I can’t say for sure.]

At the gem’s half-muttering, half-ranting words—

“Can I really get stronger than I am now?”

Radan asked.

The blue gem responded—

[Of course.]

With a cheerful laugh,

[As long as you follow my instructions carefully—]

And then.

[—revive the Sin and devour it.]

It whispered.

***

After parting with Radan, Alon immediately began bidding farewell to the others.

“Then I’ll see you next time, Saint.”

“Yes, Brother. I hope you’ll visit Rosario soon.”

“You mentioned that the goddess Sironia summoned you?”

“Yes.”

“I understand.”

After parting with Yuman, Alon ran into—

“I’m coming too, Master!”

“...You too?”

“Yeah! I got special permission to take a long break after this mission, so I figured I could go have fun!”

It was Seolrang, ears perked and full of excitement.

“I don’t mind.”

“Then I’m coming with you!”

“Do as you like.”

“Yay—!”

As soon as Alon gave his permission, Seolrang stretched her arms wide with joy.

Then she stepped away, saying she’d go tell a few people, and the moment she was out of sight—

[W-What nonsense is this!? What did you just do!!]

[Meow—! MeowMeowMeowMeow—!!]

As if they’d been waiting for this moment, Basiliora and Blackie burst out of Alon’s ring and pouch with dramatic flair.

[This is outrageous! Absolutely outrageous! I fought so hard in that epic battle and this is how you treat me!?]

[Meow! MeowMeowMeowMeow!!!!]

Blackie pounded its front paws furiously, as if to say, “Exactly! This is unacceptable!”

Alon gave a sheepish smile.

“So that’s how upset they are about me taking Seolrang?”

He paused and recalled the past.

All the things Seolrang had done to Basiliora and Blackie.

“Hm—”

Yeah, that made sense.

But only for a moment.

As soon as Seolrang returned, the two creatures vanished as if nothing had happened, slipping quietly back into Alon’s possessions.

Seeing their swift retreat, Alon let out a sigh of disbelief.

“Alright, let’s go, Master!”

Seolrang beamed as she grabbed his arm.

Alon calmly nodded.

“Let’s head out.”

“Yes. Penia said she’s going to stop by the Blue Tower again, so I think it’s fine for just the two of us to leave.”

Soon, the carriage departed for the Palatio Marquisate.

***

Just over a week later.

“Zzz—”

Seolrang was sleeping soundly with her head resting on Alon’s lap, looking as peaceful as could be.

While gently stroking her hair, Alon received some good news from Evan.

“You found information about the Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One?”

“Yes, just earlier at the last village—we heard about it from the information guild.”

“Did you find its location?”

“No, not that. But they said they discovered a book with information about it.”

“A book with intel, huh.”

Alon nodded slowly.

“Well, even that much is better than nothing.”

Compared to when they had absolutely no information about the Jewel of the Closed-Eyed One, this was a definite improvement.

Feeling somewhat satisfied, Alon asked,

“So, where do we go to get the book?”

“Oh, no need to worry about that. They said they’ll deliver it to us.”

“...Feels like I’m just being helped the whole way.”

“Hm~ that’s kind of true, huh?”

Just as Alon started thinking that maybe he should offer something in return, Evan continued.

“Ah, and there’s something else to report.”

“What is it?”

“Remember how you asked me to check if the Empire was up to anything recently?”

“Ah, that…”

While it was unlikely the Empire would invade given that Ashtalon hadn’t completely collapsed, Alon had still asked Evan to check—just in case.

“Did anything come up?”

“No. The information guild said the Empire has remained quiet without any notable activity.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“That’s a relief.”

Alon let out a breath of relief.

Even though he knew the chance of an invasion was slim, it wasn’t zero—so naturally, it had weighed on his mind.

‘This would all be solved if we could catch the Empire’s spy…’

After all, when the Empire invaded in the original timeline, the main reason was because one of their spies had infiltrated a key position in the kingdom.

That spy signaled the Empire to begin their attack when the Allied Kingdom was at its weakest.

Even knowing that—

Alon hadn’t tried to track down or preemptively stop the spy.

The reason was simple.

Because he didn’t know who the spy was.

Unless you reached the Empire-destroyed ending, the identity of the spy never even got revealed.

What’s worse, the spy changed every playthrough.

So no matter how hard he tried to dig for info or even used the guild—

He could never be sure who it was.

‘I remember there were a few side quests about the spy around the game’s mid-to-late story. If you followed those, you could eventually catch them.’

But since he wasn’t playing as Eliban in this world, taking those side quests wasn’t even an option.

After mulling it over for a while, Alon decided to push those unsolvable worries to the side.

***

Alexion was completely exhausted.

And it was no wonder.

Managing the marquisate’s affairs was an incredibly grueling task.

At first, he’d been overwhelmed by the idea of working so hard without even receiving proper compensation.

But now?

All those complaints had long since vanished.

The money Marquis Palatio paid him was far too generous.

So generous, in fact, that he couldn’t help but smile every time payday rolled around.

Still, while he was glad to be earning so much, he also felt crushed by the sheer amount of work.

As he let out yet another sigh, a thought crossed his mind.

‘Find him a partner… huh.’

He had a pretty good idea why Marquis Palatio wanted a partner.

‘It must be for that ball happening in three months. The one where the entire Allied Kingdom will gather.’

Now that the request had reached him, Alexion knew he had to take care of it one way or another.

And then it hit him—

There was no need to overthink this.

‘...Come to think of it, weren’t there a ton of noble ladies who had been sending him letters trying to flirt?’

The marquis had told him to disregard any personal letters outside of official business, so Alexion hadn’t passed along most of the flirty ones.

But the number of letters was still considerable.

And that made sense.

After all, the man he served was none other than Marquis Palatio.

So naturally—

‘I could check with the ladies who made a move. Of course, I’ll only consider those who are suitable in rank.’

He quickly recalled the list of women who had sent letters.

‘...After I conduct personal interviews, the marquis shouldn’t find any of it uncomfortable. Yeah, that’s probably the best course.’

He pulled out his stationery.

Having no idea that someone was about to arrive...