Book 1 Chapter 809
“No.”
“Ah, no?”
“Yeah. This is how you handle a phoenix.”
As Leo unfurled his palm, Lunia gazed at it with a tense expression.
Fiora was summoned onto Leo’s palm.
Fiora flapped her wings.
Seeing Fiora spewing flames, Lunia wore a bewildered look.
“This… this is completely different from how you handle a phoenix.”
“That’s right.”
“I want to learn your way a little.”
Seeing Lunia’s disappointed expression, Leo said,
“You don’t need to copy me. And honestly, I’m not that good at handling phoenixes.”
“What?”
“My best summoned creature is a Pegasus.”
“You can even summon a Pegasus?”
“For now…”
“What a monster…”
Lunia wore an expression of exhaustion.
Currently, Leo was teaching Lunia how to handle a phoenix.
It was also the summoning art that Lunia from Leo’s world line used.
In any case, since it was a method used by another Lunia,
it suited Lunia better than any other method.
‘Of course, I’m not teaching her exactly the same way.’
He was teaching her without providing the perfect summoning art, so that Lunia could ponder and realize things on her own.
*Rustle-*
“Lunia, I’ve been thinking about it for a while… don’t you think your phoenix needs to lose some weight?”
At that moment, Leah approached the two.
Fiora, who had been rolling around on the ground, heard Leah’s words and flapped her wings furiously, chirping protestingly.
Seeing that, Leah crossed her arms.
“Yeah. But it’s true she’s gained weight. I can’t tell if you’re a phoenix or a pig.”
Shocked by the word ‘pig,’ Fiora drooped.
It was when Lunia was hurriedly trying to comfort Fiora.
“Lunia. I’m sorry, but could I talk to Leo for a bit?”
At those words, Lunia nodded and moved aside.
Leah sat down next to Leo and said,
“Leo.”
“Yeah.”
“About the students of Lumern right now… what do you think?”
“You already know the answer.”
“……”
They were currently in the garden of Flov’s territory.
Leah silently watched Leo’s profile.
“You’ve changed a lot, Kyle.”
“You haven’t changed at all.”
“I’m human now, not a dragon.”
“You know that’s not what I mean.”
“……Haha.”
Leah laughed awkwardly.
“In the past, I used to lead you.”
“……”
“Now you’re leading me.”
“Do you have a complaint?”
“It’s not a complaint, rather…”
The evening sun was setting.
Leo’s red eyes stood out even more.
“You look even cooler.”
Leah muttered unintentionally.
Leo looked back at Leah with a bewildered expression.
“Huh?”
At that moment, Leah realized what she had said and her face turned bright red.
“Th-that is, compared to your face in your past life, you’re more…!”
“Leo! Let’s go for drinks tonight, just the two of us!”
Just then, Rune ran over and hugged Leo tightly from behind.
“Don’t talk to this shady woman. You might get scammed and hooked again.”
“Scammed! I just hid my feelings because I had no choice!”
“Whatever it is. You cowardly used schemes behind my back without expressing your feelings courageously!”
“It was unavoidable! Unlike you who just hid your feelings by putting up your pride!”
The two, tangled up, argued loudly! They pinched each other’s cheeks.
“I at least proposed honestly! The one who couldn’t understand was this idiot!”
“Whether it’s because of this idiot or not! I had a noble reason!”
Leo, who was inadvertently mentioned during their fight, grabbed both of their cheeks with his hands.
“You damn lizards and rotten elves, calling me an idiot and a fool.”
“What are you doing!”
“Did we say anything wrong?!”
Leah and Rune reached out and pinched Leo’s cheeks.
Karl, watching the situation where they were pinching each other’s cheeks, said,
“Honestly, I was a little jealous of Leo because Rune liked him one-sidedly? I thought he must have saved the country in his past life.”
“And then?”
As Lunia crossed her arms and tilted her head, Karl clicked his tongue.
“But seeing that Leah also has feelings for Leo, I feel sorry for him.”
“Why?”
“Are those two women ordinary women? They’ll be absolutely unbearable.”
“Indeed.”
Even now, it looked like a terrifying love triangle.
Although it looked like a cute fight where they were pulling each other’s cheeks, the aura emanating from the three was chilling.
It was when Lunia wore a look of understanding.
Reina, who was elegantly reading a book in a corner of the garden, said,
“Not at all.”
“Huh?”
“Surprisingly, guys like that end up living well with both of them.”
“……Leo. Did he save the world, not just the country, in his past life?”
It was when Karl was thinking seriously.
“Lunia!”
“Huh? Eiran, what’s wrong?”
Seeing Eiran rushing over, Lunia wore a puzzled expression.
“A, a guest has arrived!”
“A guest?”
Lunia wore a puzzled expression.
If a guest had arrived, they would likely have come to the Flov family.
But why would they tell them?
“They are guests who came to see Miss Leah and Senior Rune.”
“Why are those idiots fighting again?”
At the voice from behind, Lunia’s eyes widened.
“It’s been a while. Seeing you fight like that. It’s… kind of nostalgic?”
As Karr smiled brightly, Valhar shook his head.
“Just hearing it makes my head throb?”
“It’s been a while for both of you too.”
“Hmm? Rune’s sly junior, isn’t he?”
“I’m not sly!”
As Lunia bristled, Valhar laughed heartily and approached the three.
Then, he grabbed Leah and Rune by the scruff of their necks and threw them backward.
“Whoa?!”
“What is this! You little dwarf!”
Leah and Rune landed on the ground.
“Are you both alright?”
Karr rushed towards them in a panic.
Leah and Rune looked at Karr.
“Karr!”
Rune smiled brightly and approached Karr with his arms open.
“Huh? Am I that happy to see you?”
Karr smiled and approached Rune.
At that moment, Rune put Karr in a headlock.
“You damn bastard! If you knew, you should have told me sooner! You should have kept things secret, not this kind of thing?!”
“Eek?! I, I wanted to surprise you…”
“Huh?! Surprise? Suuuuuurprise?”
Rune growled ferociously.
“Le, Leah! Help me!”
Karr wailed and asked Leah for help.
Leah reached out to the frantically reaching Karr and grabbed his hand.
Then she twisted it.
“Aaaah!”
“I won’t forgive you, Karr.”
As Karr incurred the wrath of the two great heroes at once.
“Hmm.”
Valhar looked at Leo and stroked his chin.
Seeing Valhar like that, Leo gave a wry smile.
“……You’ve been through a lot.”
“It was tough because of those idiots. By the way…”
Valhar, who scanned Leo from head to toe, grinned.
“You’ve changed a lot from your past life. You’re radiating a beautiful light.”
“Really?”
“Yes. In that sense, you.”
Valhar said seriously.
“Are you interested in being a nude model?”
At Valhar’s words, Rune, who had been tormenting Karr, ran over and hit Valhar on the back of the head.
“What kind of perverted nonsense is this damn pervert spouting!”
“Why are you complaining?”
“Shut up! Absolutely not!”
Rune shouted, and Valhar wore a look of disdain.
Seeing them, Leo burst out laughing.
“This is a mess.”
It was exactly as he said.
It was a mess.
“……As always.”
Just as it always was.
In the past, he thought of the daily life of annoying fights as just that.
Looking back now, those were the happiest moments.
The moment that felt like it would never come again was right before his eyes.
“Really.”
Leo’s fist trembled slightly.
“We’re still the same, aren’t we.”
Enough to make him want to cry.
***
“Damn it! Damn it all!”
Harsh curses erupted from Nyx’s mouth.
His eyes were filled with killing intent.
The humiliation of being forced to flee by the power of mere inhabitants of the lower realm washed over his entire body.
“If only I had regained my strength!”
“It wouldn’t have mattered.”
Someone said to Nyx, who was revealing his resentment.
“They are too strong for someone like you to handle.”
A mocking laugh was heard.
Nyx’s face turned cold.
“I didn’t know there were still remnants left. You’re truly persistent, Deathly Frost.”
“Flame of Calamity.”
Nyx looked at Erebus.
Then he sneered.
“What is this, appearing as a lowly inhabitant of the lower realm? Even after devouring the power of all evil gods, you were defeated by the gods… you’ve gone to the bitter end, haven’t you?”
Erebus laughed at Nyx, who looked at him with clearly condescending eyes.
“I was not defeated by gods. I was defeated by terrifying monsters that made me wish the gods were better.”
“Ha, you boast about your defeat.”
“It’s not a boast. But you can learn from it.”
Erebus’s eyes gleamed.
Seeing Erebus like that, Nyx sneered.
“What can you learn from defeat?”
“Deathly Frost, do you know why you lost to me?”
“Because you became stronger than me by devouring other evil gods.”
“Wrong. Even if I hadn’t devoured other evil gods, dealing with you would have been simple.”
“What?”
“The reason I devoured you late was simple. It was because I could devour you at any time. There was no need to arouse the vigilance of other evil gods by devouring you first.”
Erebus smiled.
“That smile… it’s unpleasant. Just like the smile of that beast a moment ago.”
Nyx, revealing his killing intent, said.
“I’ll fix your delusion. In an equal situation, you are never stronger than me…”
*Thwack-*
Before he could finish his words, Erebus’s sword severed Nyx’s head.
“What…?”
“I’ll tell you why you were defeated.”
Erebus said, stomping on Nyx’s head that had fallen to the ground.
“Because you are arrogant. If a god is defeated by beastmen and dwarves, who are mere inhabitants of the lower realm, you should think about why you were defeated, but you don’t.”
Erebus said with a sinister smile.
“I’ll tell you why I’m in human form.”
Erebus raised his sword as Nyx tried to resist.
“This form is the most perfect for hunting evil gods.”
*Fwoosh-*
Black flames coalesced on the sword.
A moment later.
As the trace of Nyx, who was swallowed without even a scream, disappeared.
“We greet the Great Destruction.”
“It’s been a while, King of the Undead.”
“We congratulate your resurrection.”
So saying, the King of the Undead presented Erebus with a black stone that looked like coal.
Erebus, accepting it, laughed.
“Is this half?”
“Finally, it’s time to destroy this world…”
“No.”
Erebus said calmly.
“Now is the era when all the Great Heroes have been resurrected. There are too many variables to fight against them.”
“Yes? But if they regain their full strength…”
“That’s right.”
Erebus looked up at the sky.
“Normally, now would be the time to fight. But there’s no need to take unnecessary risks.”
“Teach this insufficient me…”
Erebus smiled chillingly.
“Coincidentally, a world where no Great Heroes exist has appeared.”