Book 1 Chapter 686
“Oh? It’s Leo? What are you doing here? Did you come here with Dweno as well?”
Karl’s face brightened with a welcoming expression.
In front of Karl, dwarf and beastkin children were lined up.
The children were each receiving a candy from Karl.
“Wow!”
“Thank you.”
The children who received the candy popped it into their mouths, their faces filled with happiness.
Ar was pulling a cart carrying the children.
Dryana was fixing the children’s toys in the middle of the wide yard, and Iliana was lying on the floor like a horse, with a child on her back, moving around.
‘An orphanage.’
“Dweno!”
“Wow! It’s Dweno!”
The children spotted Dweno next to Leo and swarmed him.
“Welcome back! Dweno!”
“Has everyone been well?”
Dweno asked, smiling and patting each of the children’s heads.
“Where’s Enniha?”
“She’s inside.”
“She must be drawing.”
The orphanage children gathered around Leo, looking at him with wonder.
“Wow, is this guy human too?”
Leo merely nodded in response.
The children flinched at his somewhat cold demeanor and hid behind Dweno.
“It seems that personality of yours doesn’t change even in death. Would it hurt you to be kind to these children like them?”
“Ar, big sister! Faster! Faster!”
“Sister! Keep going!”
“Uooooh!”
Ar, pulling the cart, accelerated further.
“Giddy up! Giddy up!”
“Excuse me. Big sister, you must be tired, can’t we rest now?”
“No!”
A dwarf girl on Iliana’s back shook her head.
“Ah! Class president!”
Iliana crawled up to Leo and tugged at his pants.
“Switch with me! My back is going to break!”
“Your back isn’t so weak that it would just sprain like that. Volunteering with the children is a hero’s work, so hang in there. Or? Do you want to continue training?”
At that, Iliana’s face turned pale. She let down the child on her back and shouted,
“Next!”
Ar and Iliana, who had become popular toys, played joyfully with the children.
“This is why people need skills.”
“Right. Otherwise, your body suffers.”
Dryana and Karl chuckled as they watched them.
“How despicable.”
“What is it now?”
“Since when did you emphasize being heroic so much?”
Leo shrugged at Dweno’s words.
“Even if my inner self is unknown, shouldn’t my outward appearance be plausible?”
“Tsk. You’ve picked up something bad. To think you’d pick up that swindler’s spirit from Lisinas, of all things!”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“And Luna’s shamelessness too. You’re learning all the bad things.”
Dweno looked exasperated.
“They say couples become alike, but weren’t you two not even in that kind of relationship?”
At that, Leo turned his gaze forward.
What should I say?
Should I tell them I’ve already met Luna and Lisinas and know their feelings?
And on top of that, Lisinas even conned me into marriage?
Even if I said it, Dweno’s reaction would be predictable.
‘As expected, you’re an idiot.’
There’s no need to invite trouble.
As he was thinking that, Dweno approached the orphanage children and said,
“You must be tired, so go rest in the mansion.”
Leo nodded at his words and opened the mansion door.
Creak-
Just before stepping into the mansion.
He glanced back at Dweno, who was playing with the children with a smile.
When he was in Guardsron.
Lisinas, Luna, and Arion frequently looked after the orphanage children.
Lisinas, who firmly believed that those children were the future.
Luna, who simply enjoyed playing with children.
Arion, who just liked children.
Their reasons were different.
But all three treated the children with sincerity.
‘Those little ones also followed those three well.’
However, he and Dweno always kept their distance from the children.
The former Leo didn’t particularly like children.
‘I still don’t like them now.’
Leo didn’t get close to children.
The only children who approached him were Verchia and Bihar.
‘Well, I always had a scowl on my face.’
It was only natural they wouldn’t approach if they were scared.
But Dweno was different.
He always looked at the children with a benevolent smile.
Dweno himself didn’t dislike children.
But he always kept his distance from them.
He maintained a certain boundary with the orphanage children.
He never found it particularly strange.
‘The others were the same.’
He just thought they didn’t dislike children but didn’t like them enough to be affectionate.
But looking at his current demeanor, that wasn’t the case.
‘I don’t know Dweno’s past.’
They could trust each other more than anyone.
He would entrust his life to Dweno without hesitation.
Even if he betrayed his trust.
He would have no regrets.
That was the bond between Great Heroes.
“Dweno! I drew a flower!”
“Haha! You drew it better than Enniha.”
“I don’t think so.”
Dweno burst into laughter as he looked at the flower drawing shown by the beastkin girl.
A dwarf boy sitting on the opposite side, drawing, said,
“But how pretty are real flowers?”
“Very pretty.”
“I heard that a vast flower field is as beautiful as the stars in the night sky!”
Seeing the children’s sparkling eyes, Dweno smiled faintly.
In the era of disaster, flowers were almost extinct plants.
This place was also Tartarus’s territory, so it was difficult to find flowers.
For these children, flowers were only something they saw in pictures.
‘Even in Guardsron, they were rarer than magic stones.’
Dweno closed his eyes with a bitter expression.
‘Until some fool completes an outrageously ridiculous magic.’
*Snap-*
The sound of a finger snap was heard.
“Waaaaaaah!”
“Pretty!”
The excited cheers of the children could be heard.
When he opened his eyes, the sight that greeted him was a field of blooming flowers.
Dweno unconsciously looked back.
There stood Leo, with a indifferent expression and eyes that seemed to lack any particular emotion.
And with a slightly annoyed face, he went into the room.
“Really.”
Dweno let out a hollow laugh.
‘Sometimes I understand why those idiots fell for that blockhead.’
***
“Aaaaaaaargh! This isn’t itttttttttt!”
Leo, who had entered the mansion and lay on the sofa in the living room, got up at a scream from the second floor.
He then scratched his head and went up to the second floor.
Upon reaching the second floor, he sensed a presence from the room at the far end.
He opened the door and saw Enniha’s back, drawing with hollow eyes in a small room shrouded by curtains.
On the canvas in front of Enniha was a drawing of flowers.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh? When did you get here?”
Enniha turned around, scratching her greasy hair, and said,
“Just… I want to show the children flowers, but it’s not working out. I haven’t seen flowers in a long time either.”
The drawing on the canvas was sufficiently well-drawn.
But the flowers lacked vibrancy.
Besides that, the room was filled with paintings of flowers and sunrises.
“Do you like flowers?”
“Not really.”
“This is the first time I’ve seen an elf who doesn’t like flowers.”
Elves, who pursue harmony with nature, like flowers.
Because it is natural beauty, not artificial beauty.
“Hmph. I just like the sun the most.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s pretty.”
Leo chuckled, seeing Enniha’s exceedingly simple reason, and pulled back the curtain.
“In that case, focus on drawing the sun. The flowers have already bloomed.”
“What?”
Enniha’s eyes widened as she looked out the window.
“What is it? What? Where did all these flowers come from?”
A field of blooming flowers.
Enniha was startled as she saw the children playing in it.
“It’s magic.”
“Magic? It’s not illusion magic, though?”
“It’s magic that makes flowers bloom.”
“Is there such magic?”
“It’s magic created by some foolish elf.”
Magic that was created in Leo’s distant past and Enniha’s near future.
“Wow~ I should have learned magic if I knew this would happen?”
Enniha, who was admiring it, looked at Leo.
“Did you use that magic?”
“Yes.”
“That’s amazing.”
Enniha, who was admiring it, said,
“It’s… fortunate that I could meet you… well, you.”
“Suddenly?”
As Leo looked at her with a puzzled expression, Enniha smiled bitterly.
“Yeah. I’m grateful. Thanks to you, I finally feel like Dweno has a comrade.”
“Comrade.”
Leo clasped his arms and leaned against the window, looking at Dweno outside.
“Are you saying you are not Dweno’s comrade?”
“Before being a comrade, I’m a burden.”
Enniha gave a self-deprecating smile.
“It’s not just me. Ivaldi is nothing but a burden to Dweno.”
Enniha continued washing her brush in the water cup.
“You know it too. Dweno’s overwhelming strength.”
He knew it better than anyone.
Dweno was a Great Hero who saved the world with him.
An iron will that seemed unbreakable and unyielding.
Even Lisinas, who was initially terrified and said he couldn’t be in their party, and Luna, who constantly bickered.
Arion, who was always scared and needed someone to rely on.
‘Even me.’
When they wavered.
Or when they faltered.
He used that iron will to pound them, making their resolve stronger and smoothing out their wrinkles.
Dweno was not just a smith who made their weapons.
He was the hammer that made them sharper and stronger.
‘The past doesn’t matter.’
Because he didn’t want to reveal it.
But.
Seeing Dweno’s past like this, he felt pathetic for only relying on him.
Enniha said,
“We were never able to fight properly to protect us. We have always been a hindrance to Dweno.”
“Did Dweno say that?”
“No. He never said that, but…”
Enniha shook her head.
“With you, who has equal power, Dweno could definitely unleash his full strength.”
Enniha clenched her fist.
“Even though he says otherwise, Dweno definitely has the power to save this world. Everyone in my group and Ivaldi believes so.”
“So it’s fortunate that I met you?”
“Yes.”
Leo chuckled.
“You are not Dweno’s burden.”
“What?”
“Neither are the people of Ivaldi.”
He didn’t have to think deeply to know how profoundly this elf had influenced the life of that damn self-proclaimed perverted artist.
The source of that iron will that supported them, that never wavered, was right before his eyes.
Enniha’s.
He had moved forward unwavering, carrying the wishes of the people of Ivaldi.
‘Just as I did.’
At the final moment.
Until they closed their eyes, they must have believed in Dweno.
‘Just as you did.’
“Just as you believe in Dweno, Dweno believes in you too. So don’t talk about burdens or anything.”
Leo looked at Enniha.
“Dweno will answer your trust.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s going to save the world.”
“How can you be sure?”
“I know the future.”
“What?”
Enniha’s eyes widened.
Staring at Leo with a surprised face, Enniha exclaimed,
“Wow, I almost fell for it.”
“It’s true.”
“Amazing. You would have become an incredible con artist in peaceful times. Where did you learn that?”
Leo, watching Enniha’s admiration, looked at Dweno outside with a serious expression.
‘Is he right? Am I really becoming like that swindler lizard?’
***
*Thump-! Thump-!*
The ground trembled with every step.
Creatures around him died just by existing.
Giant King Gias laughed as he looked at the rampaging world unfolding before him.
“I will make you regret coming to my world, surviving heroes.”