Raising Villains the Right Way

Exactly one day later.

”Is this the place?”

”Yes, I believe this is it.”

At Evan’s words, Alon stopped halfway up the mountain and looked over the land given to him by Siyan.

”Not bad.”

The land she granted him this time was overall quite favorable.

Behind it lay a mountainous terrain, and in front stretched an open plain — a textbook example of ideal topography with mountains in the back and water flowing out front.

‘The geography looks great, so why hasn’t anyone developed a domain here?’

Alon furrowed his brows in confusion for a brief moment.

It didn’t take long for Evan to explain why.

”Yes. Apparently, there are tons of monster nests nearby. There are dozens of goblin villages, plus some orc settlements, and even ogres living farther out. And somehow, monsters just keep showing up from who-knows-where.”

”A monster paradise, huh?”

”Yeah, I guess you could say it’s a flawed property?”

Alon let out a small sigh but quickly accepted it.

‘Well, since the land is good geographically, I can tolerate that kind of drawback.’

He had expected as much.

After all, if a piece of land with such good topography remained undeveloped, there had to be a reason.

In Korea too, if property near a subway station was cheap, people assumed it was haunted.

‘Once I establish my Divine Land, it might be tough at first, but the surroundings should be cleaned up soon.’

With that thought in mind, Alon moved forward.

When he reached the center of the territory, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“Whew~”

A soft exhale.

Now quite familiar with entering his inner world, Alon observed the six divine essences that appeared before him.

Each divine essence glowed in distinct colors — blue, green, red, white — the same ones he had seen the first time he looked inward, plus the gray one that appeared not long after.

And finally, a black divine essence, nearly indistinguishable from the dark abyss, but undeniably present.

So far, Alon had used two of them.

The divine essence of Kalannon, the lightning receiver.

And the divine essence of the Primordial Elf.

‘If I unify the divine essences, could I use the others too?’

As that thought passed briefly through his mind while gazing at the glowing essences, Alon took a calm breath and recalled what Rine had told him.

‘Godfather, creating a Divine Land is simple. Just bring your divine essences together and recite the incantation~’

A thin thread emerged from Alon’s hand, ran down his fingers, and pierced through Kalannon’s divine essence.

Then it pierced the Primordial Elf’s.

Next, the red essence.

Then the white and gray essences in turn.

Finally, the black essence.

However, just as he had suspected, the thread couldn’t pass through the black divine essence.

As if it refused to be mixed, it remained proudly separate, vibrating with faint cracks of power.

Seeing this, Alon retrieved the end of the thread from the five unified essences back to his fingertip.

Watching as a small, faintly glowing orb began to form in front of him, he recalled Rine’s final words.

“Declare it.”

He quietly muttered,

And at that moment—

Fwoooosh—!

A burst of brilliant white light exploded around Alon, along with crimson and bluish light spreading outward.

”Whoa—”

[This is—]

From afar, Evan’s voice was filled with awe, while Basiliora murmured as if seeing something surreal.

When Alon opened his eyes, having completed the ritual,

”? ”

He immediately sensed something was off.

And soon after, he realized what it was.

‘Time has stopped?’

Everything was frozen.

Evan, who had just been voicing his admiration, Basiliora, who had been watching with fascination beside him, even Deus, observing with calm eyes, and Filian, who had been sparkling with curiosity—

Everything stood still.

No, not quite.

‘This is—’

A moment stretched into eternity.

Everything had slowed to a near halt, as if frozen in time.

Realizing this, Alon remembered where he had experienced such a phenomenon before.

[A fragment that inherits the great will —]

‘Isn’t this the same as when I first enacted the restriction…?’

Just as that thought formed and he looked up—

He saw it.

Something he hadn’t been able to see before during the initial restriction.

[-No,]

A giant eye covering the entire sky was staring at him.

[Star Eater.]

Its twisted, smiling crescent eye seemed to drip with amusement.

It clearly grinned, speaking strange, unintelligible words.

[I truly welcome your return.]

It said as it stared straight at Alon.

And just as he opened his mouth to respond—

Bzzzzzt~!

The vision distorted briefly as if riddled with static, then cleared again.

Everything returned to normal.

The world, which had turned monochrome, regained its color.

Evan and Basiliora’s voices, which had slowed to a crawl, returned to their original speed.

In this fully restored moment—

“…What… was that?”

Alon muttered unconsciously and stared up at the sky, dazed.

After a brief moment, Alon turned to finish the task at hand.

He saw the knights and soldiers who had been marveling from one side.

“Ooh—”

Unlike other lands, particles of light shimmered faintly in the air, and the soldiers and knights looked at Alon with eyes full of reverence.

‘I wasn’t planning on moving on to the next step just yet…’

Alon recalled his conversation with Rine.

‘After you declare your territory, appoint the selected knights as your own.’

‘I did hand over power to Sili once before… should I just do the same again?’

‘No, you don’t have to do it that way. Just scatter it like you’re planting seeds, and they’ll grow it on their own.’

Following her advice, he shared his power with those present.

In an instant, the divine essence diminished.

The sphere, which had grown as large as Alon’s torso by absorbing the power of other essences, shrank back down to the size of his palm.

And then—

“What is this—”

The soldiers and knights were all shocked as divine energy seeped into their bodies.

As Alon tried to end the task quietly—

‘Should I say something?’

When everyone’s attention turned to him, he froze awkwardly and desperately racked his brain.

‘What am I supposed to say?’

He knew he wasn’t good with words, but the atmosphere made it feel like he was supposed to give some sort of speech.

“...Let everyone fulfill their duties.”

In the end, he managed to say something brief.

“Yes, sir!!!”

The knights and soldiers responded in booming unison.

Right after sharing power with the knights—

“That was amazing, Marquis.”

“What was?”

“This land, sir.”

“...The land?”

“Yes. Even just from a glance, it seems like the magical saturation level in this area is higher than before.”

It was only after Evan said that that Alon realized the change after declaring this place as Divine Land.

“It’s clearly not just a surface-level change.”

He could feel the mana in the air growing thicker.

Noticing the difference, Alon looked intrigued, prompting Evan to ask, “...You didn’t know?”

“I heard there were beneficial effects, but I didn’t expect this.”

Of course, Rine had said that declaring Divine Land would bring certain blessings depending on the tier, but Alon had assumed those effects would only appear after accumulating prestige.

As he curiously observed the changes—

“...?”

He noticed that Seamus, who had looked fine just yesterday, now wore a look of firm resolve.

Seeing that, Alon recalled what Evan had mentioned the day before.

‘Didn’t Evan say that Deus’s private meetings often change a person’s expression like that?’

Out of curiosity, Alon asked Seamus, “Did you have a private meeting with Deus?”

“Yes! I did, sir!”

Unlike the cocky demeanor he showed back in Psychedelia, Seamus now stood straight and answered with discipline.

That only deepened Alon’s curiosity.

“What did you two talk about?”

“He told me about the duties I must carry out!”

“Really?”

“Yes! I will do my utmost to help make the name of Palatio reach the heavens!”

“...Well, okay then.”

Seamus shouted with all his strength, his entire body tense.

‘The discipline is impressive, sure, but… Is it really necessary to be this desperate about guarding an empty piece of divine land?’

Just as Alon was having that thought—

“So what will you do next?” Evan asked.

After a moment of pause, Alon answered, “Well, the next step is to gather citizens.”

“Are you going to place any restrictions?”

“Restrictions?”

“Yes, like how Sironia has certain requirements for residency.”

“...Sironia had restrictions?”

“You didn’t know?”

“I thought anyone could just move in.”

At that, Evan shook his head.

“No. Most of Sironia’s citizens are people who completed the goddess’s pilgrimage.”

“The goddess’s pilgrimage?”

“Yes, to put it simply, it’s a kind of ritual where you have to travel several months by foot to a designated location.”

‘...I get the idea, but is it really worth setting up those kinds of restrictions when we’re not even in a position to attract people yet?’

Alon glanced around the divine land.

Aside from the high mana density, there was nothing here.

And while the geography was good, the mountain behind them was crawling with monsters instead of containing valuable mines.

In other words, there was nothing prepared here to warrant screening applicants.

“Still, if we prepare it properly, wouldn’t it be good PR?” Evan suggested.

That gave Alon pause.

“How about something like... only those who haven’t committed crimes and have done even small acts of justice?”

“...Isn’t that a bit too vague?”

“That’s why I said it’s just a feeling.”

“Well... I suppose we can build on it gradually. Since you’ll be heading to Raksas anyway, should I write a letter in the meantime to recruit citizens?”

“But we haven’t even officially prepared anything.”

“Early publicity always helps.”

Alon recalled how they had recruited the Holy Knights not too long ago.

‘...Well, this won’t end up like that, probably.’

He nodded in agreement.

Soon, Deus approached.

His face also looked more determined than before.

“Marquis.”

“What is it?”

“I believe training will go better here, so I would like to keep training the men here for a while.”

“...Here?”

“Yes.”

“...There’s nothing here. Will that be okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“I appreciate the effort you’re putting in.”

“No, this is just what I can do.”

With Deus showing such dedication to training the knights, Alon expressed his thanks and then departed the Divine Land.

***

“Huh?”

Mercenary Beran.

Though fairly successful in the mercenary world, he had returned to Lartania’s mercenary ranks after failing the Palatio house entrance exam.

He discovered a letter tucked in his coat for the first time in a while.

It was from his rival Karam, who—unlike him—had passed the exam, albeit as a soldier, and joined Palatio’s order.

“Tch.”

Beran clicked his tongue immediately.

Though they were rivals, they weren’t exactly friendly enough to exchange letters.

Which meant this was almost certainly a bragging letter.

Still, curiosity got the better of him.

He opened it and started reading.

And immediately clicked his tongue again.

There was some dirt on it, but the contents were all about the excellent training Karam was receiving.

“Training on land blessed by the Marquis Palatio and gaining access to divine power... huh...”

The letter went on and on about how training on that divine land granted access to Palatio’s divine essence.

Beran scowled as he read, irritated.

Just as he folded the letter with a furrowed brow—

“Something up?”

His fellow mercenary Cop, who was drinking with him at their usual bar, spoke up.

“Not really, just got a letter from Karam bragging again.”

“The guy who joined Palatio’s house?”

“Yeah, him.”

“Pfft—moved up in the world. So what’d the letter say?”

“He said he’s training on land blessed by the Marquis Palatio. Claims that training there lets you use Palatio’s divine power.”

“...Wait, seriously?”

“That’s what it said. Why do you look like that?”

Seeing Cop’s expression, Beran looked puzzled.

“I mean, I’d already heard something about that.”

“What kind of something?”

“The Divine Land of the Marquis Palatio.”

“What about it?”

“I heard that if you haven’t committed crimes and have done some small act of good, you can live there.”

“For real?”

“Yeah. It’s official, from Palatio’s house. And if what you said is true—that training there grants the Marquis’s power—”

Both of them simultaneously thought of the Marquis Palatio.

Or more precisely—

They remembered the knights who had used the power of Kalannon, the lightning receiver, back in Lartania’s dungeon.

Lightning crackling around them, slicing monsters like tofu in one swing.

Their overwhelming power had left a lasting impression.

In the Allied Kingdoms, it was nearly accepted as fact that the Marquis Palatio was the Apostle—or even the incarnation—of Kalannon.

That image naturally came to their minds.

“But come on—there’s no way that’s actually true, right?”

“Yeah, that’d be a bit much.”

“Right? I mean, you’d have to be a devout follower of Kalannon to even use divine power. Just training there and gaining that strength sounds ridiculous.”

“Totally agree. And if it were real, it wouldn’t be so easy to get in.”

The two laughed it off and raised their beers.

Then the cat-girl mercenary, Mai, casually took a seat beside them and asked,

“Cop? Beran? What are you guys talking about?”

“Oh, just something about the Marquis Palatio.”

Beran, face slightly flushed, recounted their conversation to Mai.

With great interest, she listened to the whole story.

“Huh, so that’s what it was about?”

“Well, Karam’s probably just bluffing—”

Before he could finish his sentence—

“Oh! My party’s here. Catch you guys later!”

She dashed off toward her approaching party.

“Mai, where were you?”

“I was talking to Beran. Heard something interesting.”

“What was it?”

“Apparently, if you train in the Marquis Palatio’s Divine Land, you can use Kalannon’s power.”

“Divine Land... oh, the one recruiting citizens?”

“Yep.”

“Is that for real?”

“Hmm—not sure, but that’s what they said. Beran’s friend joined the Marquis’s order and sent a letter about it.”

And so, in a tiny tavern in eastern Lartania—

“Just training in the Divine Land grants Kalannon’s power?”

A ridiculous rumor began to spread.

And soon—

“Hey, did you hear? If you become a citizen and train in that land, you can use Kalannon’s power!”

“Seriously?”

That absurd rumor—

“How do you become a citizen? Do you just have to believe in the Marquis Palatio?”

“That too, but I heard you need to perform some good deed.”

“A good deed?”

“I heard somewhere that if you take out bandits or thugs and bring proof, they’ll accept you as a citizen.”

Became increasingly strange and distorted.

“So to sum it up... if you take out some bandits and bring back proof, they’ll make you a citizen?”

“Seems like it.”

It didn’t take long for that rumor to reach the ears of those who had once regretted not making it into the Marquis’s order.