Beautiful flowers were in full bloom all throughout the village.
The village, which had been steeped in the atmosphere of autumn only a few days ago, now felt as if spring had arrived.
True to Chen Xia’s description of it being a retreat, it was a rural village, but it boasted a large inn.
“Wow, we can rent the entire annex?”
Eiran, who had been guided to their accommodations, let out an exclamation of admiration.
Thanks to renting an entire annex, they also had a garden to themselves.
In the garden was a small pond.
“It has such a wonderful atmosphere.”
Eiran seemed very satisfied with the Eastern-style inn, a sight rarely seen in elven society.
She stepped out into the garden, her eyes sparkling as she watched the ornamental fish in the pond, and began humming a tune while picking the flowers that filled the space.
Watching that innocent scene, Chen Xia, who was sitting on the living room floor overlooking the garden, rested her chin on her hand.
“Eiran-ssi is such a lovely girl.”
“You’re talking like someone who’s seen all there is to see in the world. You and her are the same.”
“...Leo-nim, who clearly treats us like children, is actually the youngest one here, you know?”
Chen Xia narrowed her eyes and shot a sidelong glance at Leo as he sat down.
“Regardless, it’s amazing. A landscape like this.”
There were fallen leaves on the ground.
Literally, spring and autumn coexisted.
‘An elf girl and a field of flowers... it’s a beautiful picture.’
Chen Xia smiled as she watched Eiran with her chin resting on her hand.
Then she looked at Leo again.
“...”
Leo was sitting still, arms crossed, staring at the ceiling.
Seeing this, Chen Xia sighed softly and stood up.
She knelt behind Leo and began massaging his shoulders with both hands.
“What? Suddenly?”
Leo tilted his head back to look at Chen Xia.
Chen Xia looked down at him and gave a playful smile.
“I’m giving you a massage. How is it? Does it feel good?”
“You have good technique.”
Leo nodded, feeling the soft touch of Chen Xia’s hands on his shoulders.
Then he tilted his head.
“But why?”
“Because I felt like Leo-nim was about to face something difficult again...”
Chen Xia said softly, loosening the tension in Leo’s shoulders.
“I was surprised when you suddenly suggested going flower viewing, but on the other hand, I was relieved. I thought that maybe Leo-nim was finally taking a break.”
“I’m always getting plenty of rest.”
“I’m not talking about that kind of rest.”
Chen Xia said in a slightly pouting voice.
“I mean resting deeply and forgetting everything. Haven’t you always been caught up in big events since you enrolled? Even during this break, it hasn’t exactly been an atmosphere where you could rest easy.”
Leo felt the strength increase in Chen Xia’s small hands.
“Hasn’t it always been that way?”
“I suppose it has. I’ve never really thought about needing rest.”
“Yes. But I think it’s very important.”
Chen Xia’s hands gently stroked Leo’s shoulders again.
“Looking at your expression, you came here because there’s something to do, right?”
“That’s right.”
“I won’t ask what it is.”
Chen Xia lowered her posture and sat beside him, looking up at Leo.
Leo looked down at her.
“But just for today, forget everything and rest well. After all, this is a place where Shadows come to rest their minds and bodies when they’re exhausted.”
“I see. I did think it was quite large and well-equipped for a secluded village, no matter how good the natural scenery was. So that was the reason.”
“Yes. It’s a place that boasts history and tradition. Long ago, it was also used as a secluded residence by Vihar-nim.”
“Vihar?”
When Leo looked a bit surprised, Chen Xia gave a soft smile and went back to massaging his shoulders.
“Leo-nim! Chen Xia-ssi! Look at this!”
Just then, Eiran, who was in the garden, called out to them with a bright smile.
When they turned their heads, they saw Eiran holding the hem of her skirt with both hands.
Since she was in civilian clothes, the skirt was long.
Inside the fold of her skirt, flowers were piled high as if in a basket.
“Isn’t it beautiful?!”
“It certainly is.”
Chen Xia laughed brightly.
“Like you said, I’ll rest well today, so you go play too.”
“What? But I haven’t finished the massage yet.”
“I feel sufficiently refreshed thanks to you.”
Leo chuckled.
“Does Leo-nim want to play too?”
“Yes! Leo-nim! Come play with us!”
“Me, playing with flowers?”
At Leo’s indifferent reaction, the two girls headed back to the garden without a second thought.
‘Regardless of everything, kids are still kids.’
Leo chuckled at the sight of the two enjoying the flowers like ordinary girls their age.
‘Rest, huh.’
5,000 years ago.
From the moment he took Lysinas’s hand, that word had been distant from Leo.
It wasn’t just Leo.
The same would have been true for his other friends.
‘Well, back then, no one could forget everything and rest comfortably.’
It was the same after his reincarnation.
He had lived only with the thought of subjugating Erebos.
His body never grew weary, and his mental strength never frayed.
He had always maintained strict personal management to stay in peak condition.
But as Chen Xia said, he had never once had peace of mind.
There were still many things that hadn’t been sorted out.
‘This is a place Vihar often visited. And earlier, through Spirit Magic, I read a memory whose owner I couldn’t identify.’
Leo organized the clues one by one.
‘Also, Statis, which should have been extinct long ago, is in full bloom. And somewhere around here are Luna’s tomb, which Lysinas and I made... and my own tomb, which Velkia recovered and built.’
Leo picked up a flower petal that had flown in through the large door facing the garden.
‘This flower is definitely related to the one Luna gave Velkia the night before the final expedition.’
Various clues made his head complicated.
‘Did the Death King resurrect Vihar as an Undead?’
He thought of the disciple who couldn’t let go of her hatred for people.
But he soon shook his head.
‘No, like Chen Xia said, let’s just rest well for today.’
Chen Xia making a crown out of flowers and Eiran clapping and laughing at the sight caught his eye.
Watching the two play happily, Leo smiled softly.
===
‘It turned into a leisure trip before I knew it.’
Leo, soaked in the hot spring, stared blankly at the sky.
The night sky was full of stars, as if they were about to spill over.
“Looking at it like this, Chen Xia-ssi is amazing. How should I put it... you’re incredible.”
“Hehe—thanks for the compliment.”
He could hear the laughter-filled conversation of the two from across the wall.
“Leo-nim, how is it? It’s nice, isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“Leo-nim, the night sky is so beautiful.”
“It is.”
Leo answered leisurely, agreeing with them.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the wall, Chen Xia puffed out her lips.
Eiran was looking at the sky in admiration.
“Don’t you think Leo-nim is being a bit much?”
“In what way?”
At the slightly pouting voice, Eiran tilted her head.
“In an open-air bath like this, with two beautiful girls washing just over the wall. He’s way too indifferent.”
Eiran smiled awkwardly at those words.
“He’s not the least bit nervous. He’s like a jaded old man.”
Eiran scratched her cheek as she watched Chen Xia grumble with a somewhat dissatisfied voice.
Between the “treating them like children” incident earlier and now, Chen Xia was a bit piqued by Leo’s attitude.
‘Well, it’s true that Leo-nim isn’t a child.’
He might look like one on the outside, but inside he was an adult.
And not just any adult, but a Great Hero from 5,000 years ago.
Furthermore, he was the teacher of Velkia and Vihar, the ancestors of her and Chen Xia’s families.
‘It’s not surprising that we look like children to him.’
She dipped her lips into the water and exhaled.
Blub blub—
Amidst the popping bubbles, Chen Xia spoke.
“We’re the noonas, after all.”
“That... is true?”
Eiran gave an uncertain laugh, seeing Chen Xia suddenly asserting her pride as the elder.
“Don’t you want to hear Leo-nim sound flustered?”
“How?”
Chen Xia gave a playful wink and said,
“Leo-nim! Since we’re here to have fun, do you want to wash together? I’ll scrub your back!”
At Chen Xia’s explosive comment, Eiran gasped and her mouth hung open.
It was a statement thrown out with the judgment that Leo wouldn’t be flustered at all unless it was something of this magnitude.
“Should we?”
Splash—!
But Leo was unperturbed.
The sound of him getting out of the water was heard, followed by footsteps approaching the wall.
Splosh, splosh.
“Are you two coming over, or should I go over there?”
Chen Xia was flustered by Leo’s unexpected answer.
“Huh? Ah! That, I mean! I-I was joking... I-I don’t really mind, but if I’m the only one... No, no! I was just teasing! I just wanted to mess with you a bit, Leo-nim...”
Chen Xia, who usually wouldn’t bat an eye at most things, was flustered.
Her face turned bright red as she stammered out an answer in a hurry.
“Don’t joke about things like that.”
From across the wall, Leo’s laughter-filled voice was heard, followed by another splash.
‘Ugh... I was played. He really never loses.’
Chen Xia buried her face in the hot spring to hide her reddened face.
“Aw, what a shame.”
“Pardon?”
Then, startled by Eiran’s voice, she snapped her head up.
Eiran flinched at Chen Xia’s stunned expression and quickly made an excuse.
“I-I read in a book that in human society, there’s a culture where men and women who aren’t in a relationship bathe together at travel destinations! So I thought it might be a chance for a c-cultural experience... a good opportunity...”
“What do you think humans are? There is no such promiscuous culture. No, wait, exactly what kind of book says that? Unless it’s some strange novel, there’s no way such content would...”
Eiran quickly turned her head away, avoiding her gaze.
Watching her, Chen Xia muttered blankly to herself.
‘She looks so innocent, but she has some dangerous tastes in books.’
===
Gooooooo—!
The world was filled with black flames.
The massive Primordial Evil spewed flames that seemed ready to consume everything.
Boom—! Flash—!
Golden Aura soared high into the sky, as if to cleave the gray heavens.
A man with gray hair holding a sword flew forward, his eyes flashing.
“Ky, Kyle! Not alone!”
Luna called out to Kyle urgently.
“Luna, treating your shoulder is the priority. Kyle will buy us time, so use that gap, quickly.”
Lysinas ran toward Luna.
Luna gritted her teeth and treated the wound on her pierced right shoulder.
Schwing—!
In the meantime, a sword strike that seemed capable of splitting the world plunged toward Erebos.
Vwoom—!
The golden Aura slashed through the giant spewing black flames.
Kyle’s gray eyes and Erebos’s dark red eyes locked in mid-air.
[Indeed.]
Erebos muttered lowly.
[Have you resolved yourself for death, Surviving Hero?]
Erebos scoffed at the resolve reflected in Kyle’s eyes.
Grip—!
Erebos grabbed the golden Aura embedded in his body.
Then, pulling it out, he raised his other hand.
Fwoosh—!
A sword of black flame was formed.
Seeing that, Kyle swung the sword in his hand upward.
Flash—! Clang-ang-ang—! Fwoooooosh—!
The sword swung by Erebos pressed down on Kyle.
Rumble—!
The ground Kyle was standing on was destroyed and collapsed.
Kyle, who was blocking Erebos’s sword, looked so small.
He looked so unstable that it wouldn’t be strange if he were crushed and vanished at any moment.
However, Kyle’s gray eyes were not dyed with despair.
Instead, they burned with even fiercer murderous intent.
Fwoosh—!
From Erebos’s sword, black flames that consumed everything poured out like a wave.
The black flames blazed with a momentum that seemed ready to turn Kyle into ashes at any moment.
Kyle’s hand holding the sword was swept by the black flames.
His face could be seen contorting in extreme pain.
Seeing that, Luna shouted.
“This is no time to worry about wounds!”
Luna, holding her staff, ran forward.
Bolting up—!
Leo raised his body.
“A dream?”
Leo’s shoulders were heaving unusually.
His entire body was drenched in cold sweat.
It was a dream so vivid it felt real.
Recalling the contents of the dream just now, Leo took a deep breath.
‘The third battle of the final expedition.’
It was the very battle where Luna had died.
‘How strange. To have such a vivid dream of that time.’
It was as vivid as if he had just been on that battlefield himself.
The moment Leo tried to push off with his right hand to get up.
“Urgh?!”
A burning pain flared in his right shoulder, and he lost his strength.
Thud—!
Leo, having collapsed, felt the bedding was damp.
‘Blood?’
At the metallic scent of blood, Leo placed his left hand on his right shoulder.
He felt a wound.
However, the wound healed in an instant.
As if it had never been there.
The pain vanished as well.
Only the pool of blood served as proof that Leo had been injured moments ago.
Leo had a bewildered expression on his face.
“What on earth was that?”
***
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