Three months had passed since Alon rescued Yutia Bludia, who would become a human extermination machine in 10 years. During those three months, Alon faithfully lived each day and managed to locate the second Sin that needed saving.
About a month later.
“As you instructed, I rescued the child from the illegal slave market and sent them to the orphanage managed by Yutia.”
Alon, who was in the study on some business, heard the report from Evan.
“You treated them well, as I said?”
“Yes.”
“There were no fights?”
“Of course.”
Alon, accustomed to Evan’s reports after nearly half a year, nodded as if satisfied. But once again, Evan hesitantly asked a question.
“…But may I ask you something?”
“What is it?”
“Why did you send the child you went to such lengths to find to the orphanage…? I hesitate to say this, but the child you rescued this time also has an extraordinary talent.”
Understanding Evan’s meaning immediately, Alon nodded thoughtfully.
‘Not just extraordinary—it’s world-ending level talent.’
The man Alon had rescued this time from the illegal slave market in the Kingdom of Kalian, the central nation of the allied kingdoms, was none other than Deus.
Deus Macallian.
One of the bosses in Psychedelia, who would become the “Sin of Sloth,” one of the Five Great Sins in 10 years, and, like the Sin of Wrath, he would erase several allied kingdoms, including the Kingdom of Asteria, from the continent as soon as he appeared.
And he did so in the worst possible way.
Even as a player, Alon had frowned at the gory depiction, and there were instances in Psychedelia-related communities where players would have visceral reactions just from reading about Sloth’s portrayal.
‘And for a Sloth, he sure holds a grudge.’
The reason Alon had told Evan to treat Deus well after rescuing him came to mind. Realizing that Evan was still waiting for an answer, Alon casually offered an excuse.
“It’s the same as before. The time hasn’t come yet.”
“The time, you say.”
Watching Evan mull over his excuse, Alon thought to himself.
‘He’s curious about a lot.’
In truth, Alon would have preferred a knight who silently followed orders without asking questions over Evan, who inquired about everything each time he received an order. Unfortunately, he had no choice in the matter.
Or rather, he had already used that choice on Evan half a year ago.
Evan was a character in Psychedelia who, while not a main protagonist, would appear several times depending on certain routes as a supporting character.
Moreover, he was a top-tier supporting character who, once a certain level of trust was established, would never betray you and would uphold his loyalty until the end. In a fantasy world where betrayal and backstabbing were as common as daily meals, Alon knew how valuable it was to have someone who wouldn’t stab him in the back. Fortunately, he had encountered Evan while he was passing through the territory and had hired him as a knight without hesitation.
“…I understand.”
While Alon was lost in thought, Evan nodded firmly, as if he understood everything, and asked another question.
“So, when do you plan to meet the ones you’ve rescued?”
“I don’t particularly plan to.”
“…But wouldn’t it be better to meet them at least once?”
“Hmm.”
Alon was aware.
Ideally, it would be beneficial to maintain a close relationship with the Five Great Sins, and the best way to build rapport would be through direct interaction.
However, despite this awareness, the reason Alon chose not to meet them directly and instead maintained a relationship through sponsorship was due to their personalities, specifically their character flaws.
According to what he knew, the personalities of the Five Great Sins were dreadful even before they became the Five Great Sins.
One only needed to watch the flashback scenes that played after defeating the bosses of the Five Great Sins in Psychedelia to understand.
Their personalities were so vile that Satan and Lucifer would clap their hands in approval from the depths of hell.
‘Of course, the process that leads them to become the Five Great Sins is even more horrific.’
Alon thought briefly before continuing.
‘…Well, I did save them before their personalities could fully deteriorate, so it shouldn’t get that bad… But then again, I did only save them halfway through.’
In conclusion, the personalities of the Five Great Sins were bound to be twisted in some way, which gave him reason to hesitate.
“…Maybe in about five years.”
By then, Evan would have gathered enough data to accurately assess the average personalities of the Sins.
When Alon gave this somewhat optimistic answer, Evan nodded, just as the door to the study suddenly burst open.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Alon!”
At the sound of the familiar voice calling his name, Alon frowned slightly and let out a sigh.
He knew the owner of that voice all too well.
“Why is my illiterate brother in here, hmm?”
Turning to the source of the voice, he saw a man approaching with a sly expression.
Or rather,
“When your elder brother speaks, shouldn’t you respond?”
It was Tonio, the second son of the Palatio Count’s family, known as one of the scoundrel brothers of the Count’s family. He wore a grin that was unpleasant at first glance and casually placed his arm on Alon’s head as he sat.
A blatantly disrespectful act.
“I just stopped by to look for something.”
Even as Tonio deliberately pressed down on his head, causing a slight pain, Alon calmly answered as if nothing was wrong, thinking to himself.
‘Here we go again.’
This wasn’t the first time either the eldest or the second son had treated Alon like this.
In fact, they had openly bullied him since the moment he had reincarnated.
Even before he took over Alon’s body, the original Alon must have been subjected to such harassment continuously.
However, the reason Alon chose not to react and let it pass, despite the annoyance, was because his desire to maintain a peaceful noble life was stronger.
‘If I mess with these bastards, my plan will be ruined from the start.’
If his opponents were truly on the level of the Count’s scoundrel duo, Alon would have loved to crush them thoroughly. But the problem was that their level was not that simple.
‘Dealing with a drug lord and a pimp king is tricky.’
Alon glanced upward.
There, the second son of the Count’s family, who ran a drug cartel with the grand name of “Avalon” in the underworld, gazed down at him with a blatant sneer.
Of course, the cartel wasn’t a large organization by any means, only known to some extent within the kingdom. But unfortunately, the current Alon was incapable of dealing with a piece of trash who could, with a snap of his fingers, order dozens of assassins from the underworld to eliminate him without leaving a trace.
Even if he managed to get rid of him, he would then have to face the eldest son, who was in a power struggle with the second son and ran the prostitution rings instead. Given that the eldest was highly sensitive about the succession issue, he would never let Alon, who had defeated the second son, go unpunished.
In other words, Alon knew that once he reacted, there would be no turning back.
“It seems my elder brother wishes to use the study, so I’ll be leaving now.”
“At least you know your place.”
Alon respectfully bowed to Tonio, whose face was full of scorn, and left the study with Evan to return to his room.
Soon, Evan handed him Yutia’s letter.
“This time, I brought it personally.”
“Did you?”
Since rescuing Yutia, Alon had been exchanging letters with her on a monthly basis. The content of the letters usually consisted of simple greetings and updates about each other’s daily lives. It had been Alon who suggested they exchange letters in the first place.
‘She might feel closer to a pen pal than if we met in person.’
Recalling the friends he once felt closer to in online chat rooms than in real life, Alon opened the letter and began to read.
“Hmm…”
The letter contained nothing special. As usual, Yutia wrote a brief greeting and shared some stories about a few of the orphans.
To summarize a bit, it mentioned that a boy named Hidan was very good at playing “war games” and that a girl named Yuna was excellent at “hide and seek.”
Reading through the ordinary stories, Alon pondered what he should write in his reply and decided to faithfully recount what had happened that day.
He figured that instead of only writing pleasant things, sharing some of his worries might help them grow closer psychologically.
With that in mind, Alon wrote about the events of the day and sent the letter to Yutia at the orphanage.
It was just an ordinary day.
***
At that time.
“Hmm~”
Yutia was observing Deus Macallian, a man with ominous, eerie, violet eyes that seemed void.
On the surface, he appeared fine.
His limbs were intact, though his body bore numerous signs of abuse, he didn’t seem physically hindered.
But that was only on the surface. If anyone else saw Deus Macallian, they would be convinced that he was broken.
His body might have been intact, but his eyes, which should have shown some emotion, were empty, staring blankly into space.
He was like a man whose mind had been shattered by mental magic, expressionless and motionless, staring vacantly at a single spot.
He was the very image of a broken man.
However, Yutia smiled deeply as she looked at him.
‘The traces left by that thing… Allowing to take direct revenge, you’re truly considerate.’
More than just smiling, Yutia clearly understood the intent behind why he had sent Deus here and spoke.
“Black Goat.”
“!”
Just a single word.
But that single word was enough to elicit a response from Deus, who had been no different from a broken man until just moments ago.
What filled his once-empty eyes was neither intelligence nor awareness, but pure hatred, anger, and fear.
Confirming this, Yutia smiled and spoke.
“Don’t you want revenge?”
At Yutia’s words, Deus’s vacant gaze shifted to her.
His eyes were filled with hatred, murderous intent, and curiosity.
Noticing this easily, Yutia didn’t say anything more.
She simply scattered a light amount of mana.
A mana that he had granted, meant solely to confront the black ones.
“Congratulations, he has chosen you. So, you will gain power.”
She didn’t elaborate further on the mana she had released.
No, there was no need to.
The second one he had chosen possessed a talent so exceptional that it could be explained with a single action.
Thus,
“So all you need to do is remain loyal to him. Then you’ll get your revenge.”
Yutia smiled as she looked at Deus.
And so, as a week passed since Deus arrived at the orphanage, Yutia received another letter from Alon, as usual.
“I see.”
After reading the letter, she smiled.
***
As a year passed since Deus had been placed in the orphanage and Yutia and Alon continued to exchange ordinary letters, Alon was starting to feel a headache over not being able to find the third boss to save.
That was when a piece of news reached his ears.
“…The scoundrel is dead?”
The second son of the Palatio Count’s family was dead.