Chapter 158 - Damn Reincarnation

The Capital

The Lionheart main estate lay on the outskirts of Seyris, the capital, so reaching the bustling city center by carriage took several hours at least.

Had Levera gone out with only an escort, she would naturally have taken a carriage. But with Eugene accompanying her, there was no need for one.

Why bother with a carriage when they could use a warp gate? The main estate’s gate was normally activated only for important matters, but Eugene now received enough special treatment to use it freely for his own personal errands.

“Is the prosthetic eye a custom-made artifact?”

Mer wasn’t inside his cloak as usual. She had visited the capital several times since coming to the main estate, but this was her first outing with Eugene. Perhaps that was why Anisilla had subjected her to a rigorous styling session first thing that morning.

“I’ve heard there are prosthetic eyes that connect directly to the optic nerve, but apparently they’re extremely expensive.”

Levera wore neat clothes for going out rather than her maid’s uniform. She touched the patch covering her left eye as she continued.

“Why worry about money? If you need it, buy it. Having an eyeball missing must be inconvenient.”

“Even an apprentice servant’s wages are far more generous than I deserve, but...”

“No, of course you couldn’t afford one on your wages. Can’t I just buy it for you?”

“Thank you for offering, but I’m fine.”

“You don’t need to turn it down.”

“I can’t use that sort of prosthetic eye.”

Levera lifted her eyepatch slightly and continued. Burns and knife scars crisscrossed her eye socket.

“The inside was seared with a branding iron. No matter how expensive a prosthetic eye I wear, I’ll never see out of this eye again.”

“Ugh...”

Mer shuddered at the wounds beneath the patch.

“... Then... um... wouldn’t a prosthetic eye with a jewel set into it look nice?”

“Wouldn’t it be better if you just kept quiet?”

“I’m trying to be considerate of Miss Levera in my own way.”

“Telling a one-eyed woman to walk around with a jewel in her eye is considerate?”

“Your decency is beyond hope if you call a one-eyed woman ‘one-eyed.’”

“Well, it’s not like I said anything untrue...”

Their thoughtless exchange continued back and forth. Unable to find a response, Levera simply kept her mouth shut. They might genuinely be trying to show consideration in their own ways, but how was she supposed to respond to all this talk of one eye and jeweled eyes?

“... An ordinary prosthetic eye will do.”

She had intended not to interrupt, but their bickering seemed unlikely to end.

“Some prosthetic eyes are useful for self-defense.”

“What, do they shoot destructive beams out of your eye?”

“Well... I’m sure eyes like that exist.”

“I’ve seen one before, back...”

Eugene had been speaking without thinking, but he remembered Levera’s presence and cleared his throat.

“... When I went to Nahama, I mean. Among those desert assassins and sandcasters, there was a guy with a prosthetic eyeball engraved with magical formulas.”

“That’s the kind of eye I meant.”

Mer clapped in agreement. Three hundred years ago, people missing an arm or a leg, or with an arrow lodged in an eye, had been far from rare. There had also been a few lunatics who used custom-made artifacts to compensate for such disabilities.

... But prosthetic eyes made that way ultimately had their limits. No matter how much effort skilled artisans, alchemists, and mages put into them, or how rare the magical minerals they used, an artificial eye was vastly inferior to a demonic eye.

Of course, demonic eyes like that were uncommon. Only a handful of the highest-ranking demons possessed eyes imbued with outrageous powers. They were symbols of the authority of certain pureblood demon families, whose bloodlines had endured and grown stronger since ancient times.

[“I hear the queen of the dream demons has the Demonic Eyes of Fantasy. Is that true?”]

‘It’s true, but they weren’t as impressive as the name makes them sound.’

[“According to legend, the queen of the dream demons single-handedly wiped out thirty thousand elite soldiers from the Kingdom of Turas.”]

‘Noir Giabella wasn’t the only high-ranking demon back then with enough power to do something like that.’

[“She drowned all thirty thousand on a plain without a drop of water. They say her eyes shone, the ground became an ocean, and waves swept over the army...”]

‘It’s true that thirty thousand people drowned, but the plain didn’t turn into an ocean.’

[“What’s the difference?”]

‘Noir Giabella’s demonic eyes... Well... they don’t make imagination real. They make you feel as though it is. All thirty thousand people who died on that plain saw waves and drowned in the sea... but they didn’t actually drown in a real sea.’

[“Hmm... So they show people powerful hallucinations?”]

‘Exactly. They’re called the Demonic Eyes of Fantasy because Noir Giabella and those eyes are a disgustingly good match.’

Noir Giabella was the queen of the dream demons. She possessed the power to reign supreme over all the countless dream demons, and the dreams she created were so intricate that they could not be distinguished from reality. Above all, what set her apart from other dream demons was how easily she could penetrate and destroy the human mind.

And the Demonic Eyes of Fantasy made people dream without even falling asleep. The instant those eyes caught someone, reality became a dream.

[“... And you say they don’t deserve such an impressive name? From what you’ve told me, the queen of the dream demons’ power sounds capable of rivaling a god’s.”]

‘I’m telling you, it isn’t. Whatever she does, it’s ultimately an illusion, not reality. Keep a firm grip on your mind, and you won’t be taken in. Honestly, I found Gavid Lindman’s Demonic Eyes of Prestige and Iris’s Demonic Eyes of Darkness much more troublesome than Noir Giabella’s Demonic Eyes of Fantasy.’

Noir Giabella had put them through all manner of hardship in Helmuth, but none of his companions back then had succumbed, collapsed, or gone mad.

[“... So in the end, you’re just saying how amazing you are?”]

‘It wasn’t just me. We weren’t bewitched because Anise maintained a sacred barrier and Senya constantly blocked outside interference.’

[“Lady Senya really is wonderful.”]

Mer nodded with a soft smile. Their conversation inside their minds had left Levera out, but she didn’t think much of it, focusing instead on walking.

It was a habit that had inevitably become ingrained in her.

Seyris, the capital of Kiel, was more splendid and better maintained than any city Levera had visited in her life. The streets were smoothly paved, without a single uneven patch, and the lanes for horses and carriages were clearly separated. Everyone passing through the streets looked comfortably at ease, both in their dress and their expressions, and guards were stationed every few blocks.

That was only natural. Levera and Eugene were walking through the bustling heart of the capital, where a commoner could work for a lifetime and still struggle to afford even a tiny room.

Levera had once lived in Nahama. Her owner had been a merchant who had made his fortune in trade, and he had not been a particularly moral man.

In that utterly barren country, the divide between rich and poor was stark. Her owner indulged in pleasure inside a vast mansion, while outside stood rows of decrepit houses that looked barely capable of keeping out the desert cold.

Sometimes, her owner would put a leash on Levera and take her for a walk through the city. There was nothing unusual about it. Nahama’s nobles and wealthy merchants often showed off their rare pets to one another, and Levera, an elf, was a splendid pet who gave her owner something to boast about.

The whispers of the poor. Vicious stares mingling envy, hostility, and greed. Levera was accustomed to such looks.

When her cruel, sadistic owner grew bored with their stroll, he would quietly let go of the leash and make Levera walk alone. Each time, she would hunch down as far as she could and walk while watching her surroundings.

After a while, her owner would disappear, and the people with those vicious eyes would approach her.

She would run from them, hide, and scream until her owner’s warriors appeared and rescued her. Those outings had never been pleasant for Levera. But when she recalled what had been done to her later, she thought those outings had been preferable.

Her eye socket throbbed, though there should have been no pain left there. Horrible memories spread through her mind. Levera flinched, her shoulders drawing inward, then surveyed the utterly peaceful surroundings and steadied her breathing.

This city... was different from the cities of Nahama. There was no malice in the gazes directed at her. She knew why. She wore a cloak with the Lionheart crest on its back, and Eugene and Mer were walking right beside her.

“What’s wrong?”

Eugene had noticed her steps falter.

“... I remembered something from long ago.”

“Nothing good, I imagine. Don’t make yourself miserable dwelling on the past. Think about the lunch we’re going to have instead.”

“What will we be eating?”

“We’re going to a restaurant Lord Gerhard visits regularly. Their veal course is incredibly delicious!”

Mer’s eyes sparkled. She had recommended the restaurant, and Anisilla had personally made the reservation. It was famous enough that even a seat in a corner required booking at least a week in advance, but the mistress of the Lionheart main family had committed the outrage of calling that very morning and securing a window table with a fine view.

“Honestly, I think dinner at the main estate tastes better.”

An array of elaborate dishes had been served in succession. They tasted as wonderful as they looked, but they fell short of the food served at the Lionheart main estate.

“You’re certainly eating well for someone who says that.”

“We came all this way to eat. Why would I leave food behind? It’s not like it tastes bad.”

“If you don’t like it, stop eating and give it to me. Or give it to Miss Levera.”

“Why would I give someone else the food I’m eating? I’d rather order another serving.”

Eugene grumbled as he sliced a large piece of meat. Sitting across from him, Levera cut her own meat into small pieces, then glanced up.

Despite grumbling as though he wouldn’t share, Eugene was putting the meat he had just cut onto Mer’s side plate. Mer smiled as though this were only natural and pushed a large piece into her mouth.

“... You two are just like a father and daughter.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“Actually, I think so too.”

Their responses were complete opposites. Beaming, Mer moved a piece of meat from her own plate to Levera’s.

“Why are you treating someone who’s never even married like a father?”

“Do you have plans to marry, Lord Eugene?”

“No.”

“There is a rumor among the servants. They say the White Tower Master, who has visited the estate several times, has a special relationship with you...”

“Have you really lost your mind? Me? With the White Tower Master? With Melkith El-Hayah?”

SQUEEEAL!

Eugene grimaced as he recalled Melkith’s shrieks.

“Besides... isn’t the age difference a little much? I’m twenty this year...”

“Pfft...”

Mer snickered beside him. Eugene shot her a fierce look and continued.

“The White Tower Master is nearly seventy. If she’d married young, she could have a grandson my age.”

“Is fifty years a large difference?”

“... Right. You’re an elf...”

“I understand that the White Tower Master is approaching old age by human standards. But becoming an archmage gave her a lifespan beyond that of an ordinary human, did it not? Among the long-lived races, seventy is very young.”

“Then I must be a newborn who still smells of milk.”

“The White Tower Master is pure and youthful in mind as well as appearance.”

“You make not acting her age sound like a compliment.”

“Would you dislike an older marriage partner?”

At that question, Mer also looked at Eugene with sparkling eyes.

“... Hmm... Isn’t someone a little older... better than someone too young...?”

“Is there another woman besides the White Tower Master whom you have feelings for?”

“You keep prying. Did Father or Nina give you secret orders?”

Levera closed her mouth without answering. Eugene clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Father really is being ridiculous. How long has it been since I became an adult? He’s already worrying about my marriage?”

“Lady Anisilla is considering marriages too. She wants Young Master Cyan to marry a princess from another country. Would you like a princess as well?”

“What princess...? I’m not thinking about marriage.”

“But you could marry someone older whom you’re close to and get along well with, couldn’t you?”

Mer giggled as she imagined a future in which Mer Merdein became Mer Lionheart.

Eugene imagined no such future. Marriage? He had mountains of work to do right now. Why the hell would he start thinking about marriage already?

‘Still... hmm...’

Having died without leaving any children behind in his previous life, he did have some desire to marry and have several children in this one.

But that was something to consider only after finishing what he had failed to accomplish in his previous life. Killing every demon would be difficult, but he could kill the Demon King of Incarceration, then the Demon King of Destruction...

Eugene took a moment to think of the women he knew.

Senya Merdein.

Ciel Lionheart.

Kristina Rogeris.

Melkith El-Hayah.

There were a few others, but those four were the women with whom he had formed deeper ties through repeated meetings.

Senya? Marry that ill-mannered woman? That foulmouth who called him a son of a bitch or a fucking bastard whenever he did anything? See her face every day, eat together, wake up together... Wait, hadn’t they done all that in Helmuth too?

[“Hamel.”]

[“You really... came back.”]

He remembered being inside the World Tree, when Senya had smiled through tear-filled eyes and wrapped her arms around him. Eugene couldn’t continue that train of thought.

Ciel...? That little girl who had barely lost her baby fuzz? Was marriage even possible in the first place? There was no reason it couldn’t be. They might be siblings, but they shared not a single drop of blood. He had been adopted into the family, but Gilead would readily dissolve the adoption for a marriage. In fact, Gilead might prefer to hear Eugene call him Father-in-law rather than Uncle...

‘Lady Anisilla would probably want that, at least.’

It wouldn’t be a bad thing for the family, either. But Eugene simply couldn’t imagine a future in which he discussed marriage with Ciel...

Kristina Rogeris. The Holy Empire’s saint, who resembled Anise and, for reasons he didn’t understand, was connected to Anise, who had become an angel.

Marriage?

To a saint?

That truly was absurd. The faith of Light did not require all clergy to remain unmarried, but nuns and monks had to be celibate, and the same applied to the saint. Eugene couldn’t even imagine that sort of relationship with Kristina, but if she somehow lost half her mind and wanted to marry him, she would first have to break her vows to the faith of Light.

And afterward? Things would become terribly troublesome and awkward. The inquisitors he had met at Black Lion Castle were self-righteous egotists who insisted on seeing things only their own way. They would surely try to hunt down Kristina for breaking her vows, calling her a heretic and claiming she had fallen from grace.

‘... As for Lady Melkith...’

SQUEEEAL!

SCREEECH!

Eugene stopped thinking any further. What was the point of having these thoughts and imagining a future that would never happen?

“... The workshop I commissioned to make the prosthetic eye is on Alcard Street, in western Seyris.”

It was a long way from the wealthy central district near the imperial palace.

Alcard Street in the west was close to a warp gate leading abroad. As a result, it drew many tourists and was also home to the Adventurers’ Guild and Mercenaries’ Guild, whose members made their living from commissions such as monster subjugation and exploration.

With those professions woven into the neighborhood, Alcard Street had many unusual shops that could not be found in the center. Shops frequented by mercenaries and adventurers rather than knights and nobles. Workshops producing weapons that prioritized function over appearance. Alchemists selling dubious-looking but undeniably effective potions.

“I’ve never been here before.”

Mer looked around, her heart pounding with excitement. They had arrived on Alcard Street through a warp gate, and its distinctive atmosphere was entirely different from the central district they had just left. Indeed, this was the roughest street in Seyris.

That didn’t mean it was unsafe. Guards patrolled regularly here as well. They simply tended not to intervene in disputes between guild-affiliated mercenaries or adventurers. They knew it was easier for everyone to let them settle things with their fists than to mediate, resolve, and make arrests over every single quarrel.

“A lot of annoying eyes around here.”

Eugene didn’t bother looking around, but he could feel gazes creeping over him from all directions. A one-eyed elf. The Lionheart crest. A uniform with a lion embroidered on the left breast. Gray hair and golden eyes. ... A purple-haired girl in an adorable outfit.

“It must be a nuisance for you too. People stare wherever you go just because you’re an elf. They don’t come up and pick fights, do they?”

“This is only my second visit to this street, but that has never happened.”

“Who came with you last time?”

“Sir Nain of the White Lion Knights escorted me.”

“Hmm. He’s a big fellow, and he looks fierce too.”

“It’s true that the people on this street are rough, but no one would take the Lionheart name lightly enough to approach...”

Levera stopped speaking and turned her head.

A freckled man with shaggy hair was sidling toward them with a servile smile.

“Are you Lord Eugene Lionheart?”

The man was alone. When Eugene merely stared without answering, he cleared his throat and continued.

“I’m... Tephir, a reporter for the Scars newspaper.”

“What’s that?”

“A shitty rag that publishes pointless, sensational gossip dressed up in heaps of exaggeration.”

“Uh...”

“They’d be better described as a fiction editorial department than a newspaper. ‘An unidentified killer roams the capital at dawn—could he be a certain marquis’s illegitimate son?! An exclusive interview on his tragic past...’ That’s the sort of crap they churn out.”

“There’s a killer roaming the capital at dawn?”

“No, there isn’t. Didn’t I tell you? It’s fiction, not a newspaper.”

Tephir’s face twisted at Mer’s assessment.

“... If you don’t mind, could you spare a moment?”

“I don’t do interviews.”

“Please spare just a moment. I heard that a disgraceful and troubling incident recently occurred in the Lionheart family...”

“You’ve got some nerve. You know my name is Lionheart, and you still say that shit?”

Eugene snorted and waved him away.

“Cut the bullshit and fuck off. Keep mouthing off if you want to spend the rest of your life writing articles with a pen in your mouth instead of your hand.”

Apparently never having expected such words from a young master of that prestigious family, Tephir could only blink, unable to reply.

“I said fuck off.”

He had said it twice. Tephir merely fidgeted without retreating. Clicking his tongue, Eugene flicked a finger at him.

BANG!

The shot of air burst against the center of Tephir’s forehead. He screamed and crumpled to the ground.

“You don’t fucking listen when people talk. You can put this in your article: ‘Eugene Lionheart of the main family has a shitty temper and is as vicious as a rabid dog. Mouth off in front of him, and you might get the shit beaten out of you.’ Got it?”

If he actually published such an article, Anisilla, who had recently been putting pressure on the press, would fly into a rage and tear the Scars newspaper apart as an example.

“Are you already working to keep marriage proposals away?”

“Be quiet.”

“You are, aren’t you? You’re advertising your serious character flaws so no noble ladies or princesses will propose marriage, right?”

“There’s nothing wrong with my character. Of course I’m rude to rude assholes. If you want kind words back, you have to offer kind words first.”

[“If Lady Senya says kind things to you, will you say kind things to her too?”]

‘That woman... has never said anything kind to me...’

[“I know you.”]

[“Hamel.”]

[“Even if reincarnation changes your body, your face, and your name... you’re still the Hamel I know.”]

[“Why did you stop talking?”]

“It’s a little hot today.”

Eugene grumbled as he walked past Tephir, who was still sitting on the ground.

A cool spring breeze, still carrying the lingering chill of winter, brushed through Eugene’s hair.