Mastermind
Copyright© 2026 by FantasyTranslater
Chapter 22
The battle with the goblins ended in victory. Thanks to the knights and mercenaries responding calmly, the frontlines held strong, and Alon’s magic once again destroyed a detachment of enemies who were moving to attack the nobles from behind, quickly tilting the battle in their favor. Of course, with hundreds of mutated goblins, there were casualties, but the number was small given the scale of the battle.
The final blow came when a knight pierced the head of the last goblin, ending the battle completely. As soon as the soldiers confirmed the battle was over, they sighed in deep relief and turned their gazes toward Alon, who was looking down at the goblin corpses. Despite having just fought a life-or-death struggle, he remained expressionless, as if the battle had left no impact on him, causing the mercenaries to look at him with awe. They couldn’t forget the sight of Alon turning dozens of goblins into mere chunks of meat without even changing his expression.
However, while the knights and mercenaries admired Alon, he was thinking, ‘I nearly died in a single strike...!’ Though his face showed no sign, inside he was working hard to calm his wildly racing heart. Despite bearing the Insignia of the Impure, which allowed him to cast three times more spells than usual, after using walls and shields twice each, he had been reduced to a mere mortal due to the limitations of his mana capacity.
‘It’s a good thing the knights won,’ he thought. Though the odds of the knights and mercenaries losing were slim, even against mutated goblins, when he had lost all means of self-defense, he had felt a desperate fear.
‘Perhaps I should have just dropped out earlier ... No, it was a good thing I stayed close ... but more importantly... ‘ Alon praised his past self for acting rationally and, having calmed his heart, turned his gaze to the goblin before him, his expression growing serious. He knew all too well the significance of the purple amethyst emerging from the goblin’s body.
“Why ... a divine descent?”
This was a strange phenomenon that occurred among the monsters of the continent when an Outer God tried to descend upon the world. The monsters affected by divine descent became more ferocious and physically stronger. While the current group of soldiers could handle the monsters they would encounter on their journey to the Duke’s territory, Alon was concerned about the fact that the divine descent had occurred at all.
The phenomenon meant that an Outer God would soon descend upon the land. Typically, such gods could not descend unless one of the Five Great Sins manifested, but now, even these borderland gods were about to arrive.
‘This ... can’t be good... ‘
The descent of Outer Gods was a grave matter for Alon. While not as catastrophic as the Great Sins, if these gods started rampaging, entire kingdoms could vanish easily. There were only six kingdoms on the continent excluding the Empire, meaning a one-third chance that his future plans would be destroyed. In fact, if he were lucky enough to even be able to think about his future at that point, he would consider it fortunate. Alon’s expression grew serious as he stared at the goblin.
However, there were others who looked even more serious than Alon—so serious, in fact, that their expressions seemed to suggest they had lost everything.
Those individuals were Count Crylde and Count Edolon.
A few days after the appearance of the mutated goblin, with only one day left until their arrival at the Duke’s estate, Alon experienced two changes in that short time. One was that the nobles, who once looked at him with blatant contempt and ridicule, especially when Counts Crylde and Edolon made their snide comments, no longer displayed such expressions. The second change was:
“Count Palatio, this is some meat I brought from my estate. Would you like to try it?”
“Count, if it pleases you, I could offer some support to your domain. What do you think?”
Count Crylde and Count Edolon, who had spent the past few days mocking Alon, were now fawning over him, trying to curry favor. The two counts, who now seemed ready to give Alon anything he wanted, clung to his side, flattering him with servile smiles, while Alon remained indifferent. But the counts were desperate—truly desperate.
The display of power Alon had shown just days ago was too strong to dismiss as mere “luck” in claiming the title of Count Palatio. Moreover, they still remembered what the 3rd-tier mage, whom Baron Amon had brought to flaunt his wealth, said that night: that Alon’s magic was undoubtedly beyond a 2nd-tier level.
Upon hearing that, both counts began to reconsider the rumors circulating in society, wondering if they were wrong about Alon. While there were still some unresolved doubts, that no longer mattered. What was important was that the two counts had realized Alon was hiding a power strong enough to not need protection.
This meant the power that had supposedly wiped out Avalon in a single day, the power held by Count Palatio, could be real. With this realization, their only option was to quickly win Alon’s favor. While some might argue that it would be better to investigate the situation thoroughly before making any moves, this didn’t apply to those who knew the Palatio family well.