Book 1 Chapter 795
795.
Click.
Lea’s door opened.
As Rune entered the room, Leo followed him.
“Excuse me.”
Chelsea, who had followed nervously, muttered in a small voice.
Of course, no one responded.
Because the owner of the room was not there.
“Whew… My heart is pounding.”
At that moment, Illiana entered the room and muttered.
“Is it something to be so nervous about?”
Illiana nodded at Lunia’s question.
“Of course! I told you! This is a sanctuary for Lumern students!”
Illiana, who had entered the room, said with exaggerated excitement.
Then, after confirming the desolate appearance of the room, she showed a slightly disappointed expression.
“Ugh, what is it? It’s just ordinary?”
“What were you expecting?”
Chelsea asked with a look of dismay, and Illiana replied.
“People who are as perfect on the outside as Lea often have messy personal spaces, don’t they?”
“Do you think Lea is as messy as you? Anyway, don’t you think your character has suddenly changed too much?”
At Karl’s remark, Illiana put her hands on her hips.
“From now on, I’ve decided not to lose my true self!”
“Thinking about it, wasn’t second year better than first year?”
“At least it wasn’t noisy.”
As Karl whispered softly, Chelsea nodded.
Eiran smiled gently, watching the Lumern students chatting away.
“The Lumern students always seem to get along so well, no matter when I see them.”
“You’re not in a position to worry about the Lumern kids right now. Did you forget that senior Rune said he’d scold you?”
At Lunia’s words, Eiran’s face fell.
While the students were talking.
Leo looked around Lea’s room.
It was structured more like a house than a room.
The living room and kitchen were connected, and there were three rooms.
It was quite a spacious area for one person to use.
Leo had also received the largest room in the Clock Tower dormitory.
Of course, Leo’s dormitory room was absurdly large.
“The room is big.”
“Huh? It’s no different from the rooms Lumern students use?”
“Do other students share rooms?”
“Of course, they’re private rooms.”
“……”
“Lea managed the school incredibly well. She put a lot of effort into students’ convenience.”
Leo let out a hollow laugh at Rune’s words.
It seemed she had put a lot of thought into providing a comfortable dormitory environment.
‘Indeed. Licinas had always cared a lot about welfare, even when he was in Gardstron.’
Despite the difficult circumstances, Licinas never forgot to hold even a modest festival after a major event.
“Alright, kids, it’s time to sleep now.”
Rune began ushering the students into rooms.
“The girls will sleep in Lea’s room. Karl Thomas? You sleep in the study.”
“Um… Is it okay to just sleep anywhere?”
“It’s fine. She’s not petty enough to complain about something like this.”
Rune smiled faintly at Karl’s question and sent all the students into their rooms.
Then, he used a light sleeping spell.
A moment later.
After confirming that the students were asleep, Rune approached Leo, who was sitting on the sofa.
“Did you really need to put them to sleep like that?”
“They must be tired. And from now on, it’s a secret conversation just for adults, isn’t it?”
Rune winked an eye and sat on the sofa.
“Now it’s just the two of us.”
“Right.”
“Kyle from a parallel world… That’s quite strange. How did you come over to this side?”
Leo looked at Rune, who sat in front of him, and told the story of how he had crossed over from a parallel world.
Rune listened to the entire story and fell silent.
“… In your timeline, we didn’t reincarnate?”
“Right.”
“… That’s ironic.”
“It is ironic.”
Rune gave a bitter laugh.
Then, he wore a puzzled expression.
“What kind of magic did Chelsea and Illiana use? No matter how I look at it, that’s magic I created, isn’t it?”
He didn’t think Kyle would have created that magic.
No matter how much Kyle researched star magic, his tendencies wouldn’t change.
The two people’s magic, although not created by him, was clearly created by another version of himself.
Leo spoke calmly at Rune’s question.
“Through the Hero Record, I was able to temporarily bring you all into reality.”
“The Hero Record can do that?”
“Yes. In your case, the second time, I summoned you to this world through your spiritual body.”
At that, Rune’s eyes widened.
“Me as a spiritual body?”
“Not just you, but Licinas too.”
“No. Seriously, what lingering regrets did he and I have in this world?”
Rune looked dumbfounded.
Did he have any lingering regrets in this world when he died back then?
“Even thinking about it now, I feel a bit wronged, but I don’t think I had enough lingering regret to remain as a spiritual body?”
Leo said, watching Rune’s bewildered expression.
“Worry for Berkia.”
“Huh?”
“Your lingering regret was your worry for Berkia.”
When his disciple’s name was mentioned, Rune gave a bitter smile.
“If it’s worry for Berkia, then maybe so.”
“And it would be partly because of me.”
Rune, who had been smiling bitterly at Leo’s words, became serious.
“Kyle. I’m going to speak seriously.”
“What?”
“I’m definitely sorry for having passed the burden on back then. It’s also true that you suffered from not being able to reincarnate. But I can say with certainty that my lingering regret wasn’t because of you.”
Rune looked at Leo and openly sneered.
“What’s so attractive about a bad-tempered, rotten person like you that I’d have lingering regrets? Lea… I mean, if it were because of regret towards Licinas, that would be another story.”
“……”
Leo, who had a dumbfounded expression at Rune’s words, spoke.
“I will be your future.”
The moment Rune heard Leo’s words, his face stiffened.
“If you can’t draw a future, I’ll become your unchanging dream. So that your life can lead to mine.”
Rune’s shoulders began to tremble.
This was the marriage proposal he had made to Kyle countless years ago.
The words that the human in front of him hadn’t understood back then.
That marriage proposal line was now coming from Leo’s lips.
It wasn’t difficult to guess what kind of situation this was.
“Why are you proposing with such cringeworthy words?”
“You… you… Since when did you know?”
“Does that matter? What matters is that you liked me. No, that you still like me.”
Rune’s face turned bright red.
“And what else did you say? ‘Because I fell for your never-giving-up, wonderful self,’ was it?”
“What? I never said anything like that!”
“It was your own words, spoken by you from the Hero Record.”
“No! No! That thing just blabbered on its own!”
“You even announced to the world after revealing your identity that you liked me?”
“Aaaahhhhhhh!”
Rune covered his ears and shouted, drowning out Leo’s words.
The embarrassment crept up from the deepest part of his chest.
He certainly had never done such a thing.
But what if he really had been in that situation?
‘Damn it! Those are exactly the kinds of things I would have done!’
Rune covered his face and, trembling, said, almost whimpering.
“If you tease me any more, I’ll really kill you.”
Despite his delicate appearance, his words and actions were extremely menacing.
And teasing him further here would indeed be dangerous.
“I think it’s a story you should know, so I’ll tell you about Berkia.”
“Sildroad told me. That she met a good partner and lived happily.”
“… There’s more to the story.”
“……?”
Leo gave a bitter smile and told Rune about Berkia’s life.
“Berkia became an undead?”
Rune’s face darkened after hearing the entire story.
A moment later.
When Leo’s story ended, Rune wore a sad expression.
“… I didn’t know she would have to bear such a burden.”
Rune muttered that and then cautiously asked.
“What happened in the end?”
“… Those damn things called me Dad.”
“Dad?”
“Yeah. They told me to hang in there. Those darn kids.”
“Haha. Well, I guess that’s just like Berkia.”
Rune sighed in relief after hearing Leo’s story.
The unexpectedness of calling him "Dad" in their final farewell was indeed characteristic of Berkia.
‘Well, Kyle is her Dad. Since I’m the Mom.’
Mm-hm! Rune, who had been nodding, paused.
“Wait.”
“……?”
“‘Things’? Are you saying Bihar called you Dad too?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Rune, feeling something was amiss, narrowed his eyes, and Leo said.
“Well, I took in Bihar from a young age too.”
“… Still, weren’t you just a teacher and student?”
“Apparently not. That kid considered Licinas his mother.”
“Wait. Wait. Wait.”
Rune waved his hands frantically, as if he couldn’t organize his thoughts anymore.
“If he considered Licinas his mother, why are you Bihar’s dad?”
“Well, that’s…”
Seeing Rune’s incomprehension, Leo felt something was wrong.
‘… Come to think of it, Luna didn’t know that Licinas liked me.’
What if she still didn’t know that here?
“No way… Licinas has feelings for you too?”
“Hmm…”
“She does! That fraud lizard! She played dumb every time I asked her repeatedly!”
Rune’s eyes snapped open sharply.
Watching her, Leo thought.
‘If she knew I was tricked by that fraud lizard and even signed a marriage contract, she’d really blow up, wouldn’t she?’
Thinking that far, Leo looked at Rune again.
“Liar! Cunning lizard!”
Seeing Rune looking like he was about to breathe fire, Leo nodded.
‘I’ll have to keep it a secret till the end.’
***
The remote kingdom of Delan in the western continent.
As a small kingdom, most of its territories were peaceful rural areas without much commotion.
Among them, the territory of the Flobe family.
Ddddd-!
The villagers cultivating grapes suddenly felt the ground shake.
“The ground is shaking?”
“Is it an earthquake?”
“Strange. Is this what an earthquake is?”
The villagers wore expressions of wonder at this unprecedented natural phenomenon.
A small but distinct vibration.
But a moment later.
Kugugugugugung-!
“Aaaah!”
“Oh dear!”
The vibrations grew stronger and stronger, now making them stagger if they stood.
No houses collapsed, but household items fell over inside.
Startled by the sudden situation, people crouched down.
Soon, the shaking stopped.
A moment later.
Birds rose simultaneously from a large mountain that occupied one part of the territory.
At that ominous sight, one villager urgently said.
“Shouldn’t we tell the lord?”
“That’s a very bad omen! Let’s go quickly!”
The villagers began to move frantically.
At that time, the mountain ecosystem was also in chaos.
All the birds flew far from the mountain, and other animals frantically fled the mountain.
The plants let out silent screams.
Thud- Whirrrl-
Then, black flames ignited in the middle of the mountain.
The black flames, gradually taking on the form of a burning person, slowly disappeared from the mountain.