Chapter 229 - Damn Reincarnation

Canyon

A giant of a man. The Beast King Aman Ruhar and Leheinyar’s rangers were massive men over two meters tall, but the man standing atop the cliff looked a full head taller than them.

He wore a pelt over his shoulders like a cloak, though whether it had belonged to an animal or a monster was unclear. Armor of some unknown material encased his left arm, but that was all the armor he wore. Even in this bitter cold, he wore no thick winter clothing, leaving the bulging muscles of his arms and chest exposed. Those thick, enormous muscles made his already towering frame look even larger.

An axe rested on his shoulder. Its crude shape resembled a woodcutter’s axe, but it was large enough to fell a great tree with a single blow. Indeed, the man had severed that enormous Nur’s neck in one stroke, yet not a drop of blood ran down the axe.

His hair streamed in the wind. Amid those whipping, disheveled locks, his eyes slowly turned downward.

Moron Ruhar.

There was no way Eugene and Anise could fail to recognize him. Unlike three hundred years ago, he had grown a shaggy beard, but a bearded Moron was still Moron.

Or he should have been.

Eugene and Anise stood frozen for a while. Though Eugene had called his name—Moron—neither could say anything more.

Was it because he was taller than he had been three hundred years ago? Because he was bulkier? Because some unknown armor encased his left arm? Because he had grown a shaggy beard? None of that changed the fact that Moron was Moron.

His eyes.

Eugene and Anise looked into the eyes gazing down at them. They were so cold it was hard to believe they belonged to Moron, utterly devoid of emotion. Had he not heard Eugene call his name? Perhaps. Eugene had been so startled that he hadn’t managed to say it loudly.

Eugene couldn’t understand the air Moron now exuded. Had Eugene come here alone, it would hardly have been strange for Moron to be wary of an unknown outsider.

But Kristina, who looked exactly like Anise, stood beside Eugene. Even if Moron couldn’t recognize Eugene’s reincarnated appearance, surely he would recognize Kristina—Anise. What was more, Anise currently had all eight wings unfurled.

“... Hey, Moron.”

Calming his emotions, Eugene called the name again. There were far, far too many things he didn’t understand. He didn’t know whether that monster was the “Nur” from the Bayar’s ancient legends, the creature the rangers had warned them about.

Eugene and Anise had sensed in that monster the same disturbing menace they had felt from the Demon King of Destruction. It wasn’t something they could dismiss as a mistake. Of all the demons and Demon Kings they had seen in Helmuth, only the Demon King of Destruction had possessed that ominous presence that instinctively set their nerves on edge. Although incomparably fainter than Destruction’s, the monster’s mere presence had been enough to evoke memories from three hundred years ago.

Why was such a monster on this mountain? And why was Moron here, when he was said to have left the royal castle and gone into seclusion a hundred years ago? There was so much Eugene didn’t understand.

“You idiot.”

Really, what did any of that matter?

His companion from three hundred years ago was alive. Whatever his circumstances, the Moron standing up there looked perfectly healthy. He hadn’t faked his death like Vermouth, been sealed away with a hole in his chest like Senya, or taken his own life like Anise.

So Eugene kicked off the ground and leaped high into the air. The cliff was tall, but he reached its edge in a single bound. Moron’s downward gaze lifted. Their eyes met in midair.

Those cold eyes. They weren’t the eyes Eugene remembered. They were dull and clouded, as if weathered by the full weight of three hundred years. He looked exhausted—like Vermouth sitting in that chair in the Darkroom.

Eugene was about to drop onto the clifftop. At that moment, Moron gave a slight shake of his head. Before Eugene could land, Moron swept his hand through the air. It was a casual gesture, but the wind that followed was as powerful as a storm. Its immense pressure sent the snow covering the cliff billowing into the air.

The wind struck Eugene and sent him flying backward. He had never imagined Moron would push him away, and in an instant, the wind had carried him far into the distance.

“Hey!”

Eugene shouted in disbelief. He immediately took control of the wind spirits and stopped the gust. Then he propelled himself forward with an even stronger wind, returning to the cliff faster than he had been driven away.

“Go down.”

Lips parted beneath the shaggy beard. Staring straight into Eugene’s face, Moron continued.

“Hamel.”

Was it because he had called him an idiot? Though his face looked nothing like it had in his past life, Moron called Eugene by that name.

... Go down? Eugene’s face twisted. He had climbed this goddamn mountain and reunited with Moron after three hundred years. There was so much he wanted to ask him. And now he was telling him to go down?

“F*ck off.”

Eugene had no intention of obeying. As he returned to the cliff and began dropping toward it again, Moron smiled, his beard twitching.

The axe rose from his shoulder. Gripping the enormous weapon in one hand, Moron swung it through the air.

There wasn’t a trace of hostility in the blow. Yet it carried such immense force that facing it head-on felt utterly impossible. Reflexively, Eugene drew Wynnyd from his cloak and summoned Tempest’s wind.

ROOOOAR!

A tempest followed the arc of Wynnyd’s swing. Axe and sword never met directly, but their forces collided in midair.

Both had swung their weapons without warning, yet Eugene felt the difference in their strength keenly. Even three hundred years ago, Moron’s physical strength had been absurd. Time had taken its toll on his eyes and appearance, but the strength residing in that muscular body hadn’t faded in the slightest.

‘No, he’s even stronger than he was three hundred years ago...’

The tempest shattered, and Eugene was driven backward. The force was so powerful that he had no idea how far he would fly if he didn’t resist. He summoned the wind once more to brake his flight.

Having brought himself to a stop, he descended.

“That idiot.”

Cursing, Eugene crossed through the blizzard. Returning to the foot of the cliff, he saw Anise standing motionless with her back to him. Though all eight of her wings had been spread moments ago, she had now withdrawn them and was simply standing there.

“Anise. Are you all right?”

“I am.”

She answered without turning. Raising a finger, she pointed in the direction of her gaze, up at the cliff. Eugene looked up as well.

“... Where did that idiot go?”

Neither Moron nor the corpse of the monster—Nur or whatever it was—that had been there before Eugene was sent flying was anywhere to be seen. At Eugene’s scowling question, Anise shrugged and turned around.

“I don’t know. They suddenly disappeared into the blizzard.”

“That ridiculously huge corpse and that brainless idiot just disappeared? What, did he jump away dragging the corpse behind him?”

“No. I don’t know much about magic, but Moron and the corpse vanished as if by magic... in the blink of an eye.”

“Let’s see for ourselves.”

Grumbling, Eugene approached Anise.

“But I’ve already put my wings away.”

“Then bring them out again. And since when did you need wings to fly? You can fly without them... Or just jump. You can get up that high.”

“Kristina hasn’t trained her body enough. Besides, don’t the wings make me look holy, like an angel?”

“It’s not like anyone else is watching...”

“Ah, quite right. It’s just you and me here, Hamel.”

Anise smiled brightly. Had Kristina been awake, she would have screamed in embarrassment inside their head, but unfortunately, she was still unconscious.

Secretly, Anise hoped Eugene would blush, but he looked entirely untroubled. He felt no embarrassment whatsoever over what he himself had said during the fireworks, so why would this embarrass him?

“Then there’s no helping it.”

Eugene strode over and abruptly put a hand around Anise’s waist. His boldness brought her thoughts to a complete halt. Paying no heed to her rigid body, he scooped her into his arms.

“Stay still.”

To Eugene, it was a perfectly rational choice. Moron might not be on the cliff now, but who could say he wouldn’t emerge from hiding and swing his axe again when they climbed back up? Of course, Anise was more than capable of protecting herself, but Eugene simply thought it would be safer to carry her up himself.

‘A b-b-bridal carry...’

In truth, Anise had hoped for this. But what she had imagined was Eugene blushing scarlet and hesitating when she subtly suggested he carry her—not him taking the initiative like this. In other words, she wasn’t yet mentally prepared to be held this way.

So she couldn’t even tease him and merely lay quietly in his arms. Had he held her longer, she could have enjoyed it enough to start teasing him... But that towering cliff was far too low for Eugene’s jumping ability, and they reached the top in an instant.

“He’s gone.”

As soon as they reached the clifftop, Eugene grumbled and set Anise down. Or rather, he tried to.

Belatedly coming to her senses, Anise wrapped both arms firmly around his neck. Though Eugene had already let go with both hands, she clung to him, keeping herself in his embrace. The strength in those arms... made it hard to believe her claim about insufficient training.

“What are you doing?”

“... Ahem.”

She had no suitable answer. Clearing her throat, Anise discreetly loosened her grip and lowered herself to the ground. Then she looked around.

“... It’s spotless.”

“Yeah.”

The Nur had been as large as a giant. The black blood spilling from its corpse alone should have been enough to stain all the snow on the clifftop. Yet the snow was now pure white, without a single stain, and there was no sign of anything having been dragged away.

“... You’re right. It’s like magic.”

Eugene murmured with a hollow chuckle. Had Moron learned magic over the past three hundred years? If he had tried, there was no reason he couldn’t have learned. Eugene turned to look at Anise.

Anise had said Moron and the corpse had disappeared “as if by magic.” Certainly, she didn’t know much about magic. But that meant she couldn’t cast it herself, not that her eyes were too undiscerning to recognize it.

This phenomenon wasn’t the work of magic. It was something like magic. Eugene surveyed his surroundings again. Though he held Akasha inside his cloak, he couldn’t determine how Moron had vanished with the corpse.

“... Did Moron say anything to you?”

“Nothing. He merely looked at me for a little while, until you returned, Hamel.”

“How did he disappear?”

“Suddenly. Like magic. I don’t know precisely. I said he vanished in the blink of an eye... but I didn’t actually close my eyes. That’s how quickly and suddenly he disappeared. Into the blizzard... as if he had never been there.”

“Your account and the traces here only suggest one thing.”

“A barrier.”

Anise answered with a nod. The cliff itself straddled the boundary of a barrier. Moron and the Nur’s corpse had been on an “other” cliff connected to it.

Barriers of this kind invariably had a totem sustaining them. But even with Akasha, Eugene couldn’t see through this barrier. As for blindly searching for the totem, he knew nothing about this cliff or what lay beyond it, leaving far too much to be wary of.

“Let’s go down.”

Eugene spoke with his brows tightly furrowed.

“Moron told us to go down, didn’t he?”

“Since when have you been so obedient to Moron?”

“He’s older than me.”

“He was older than you three hundred years ago, too.”

“Back then, he was only three or four years older.”

“Five.”

“In those days, five years was nothing. We were just friends. By that logic, you were two years older than me too, Anise.”

“Three.”

“... Back then, we were equals, regardless of our ages or birthdays. But three hundred years have passed, and that bastard Moron has actually aged all three hundred of them. He probably didn’t tell me to piss off because he hates me, so let’s go down and look into things first.”

“How cute.”

“What?”

“For all your complaining, you’re respecting Moron’s wishes, aren’t you? Hamel, are you afraid that if you stubbornly search this place... Moron will push you away again?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Moron’s alive, and he must have his reasons...”

“That’s what we call respect.”

Chuckling, Anise turned away. Thinking how adorable he looked, embarrassed and opening and closing his mouth, she lightly jumped off the cliff.

“Ah.”

Only after landing did she realize. She should have said it was too high and asked him to carry her down. Then she could have been held like a princess again...!

Belatedly regretting her decision, Anise hurriedly looked up at the cliff. Eugene, who had yet to descend, was looking down at her through narrowed eyes.

“... Ahem.”

Anise cleared her throat, suppressing her disappointment.

When they returned to the tent, Evil was waiting with his ears drooping. With the death of the monster—Nur or whatever it was—the ominous presence that had evoked the Demon King of Destruction had vanished. Evil was no longer cowering in terror as he had been earlier.

After a little while, Mer cautiously poked her head out of the cloak, and Kristina regained consciousness as well. Ashamed that she had fainted without being able to resist, Kristina reproached herself.

[“It’s only natural that you fainted, Kristina. You have no resistance to beings like that, do you?”]

“Even we nearly passed out facing something like that, and we went through all kinds of things three hundred years ago.”

“... But that being wasn’t the Demon King of Destruction.”

“It was similar, though. Don’t compare how strong they were. This is an instinctive fear. It’s hard to resist without experience.”

After reassuring her, they finished the meal they had left uneaten. They reheated the porridge, which had gone cold, but it tasted even worse than usual.

Two days later.

Eugene and Kristina left Leheinyar and arrived at Lehein’s training grounds. It was a fortress encircled by towering walls, but rather than standing alone, it was laid out as a town, like a domain with its own castle.

Ruhar’s royal knights were its primary users. However, the people living in the town were members of the Bayar tribe who had never left the snowfields. They had lived here and maintained the fortress ever since its construction.

Most of Leheinyar’s rangers were Bayar natives born in this town, and its young warriors dreamed of one day going to the capital, Hamelon, to be chosen by the king and become knights.

“Huge.”

That was Eugene’s murmured impression upon entering the fortress.

And it wasn’t just the fortress that was huge. Like Moron, the king of Ruhar, and the rangers of the snowy mountains, the Bayar natives living in the town were all tall and massive. Eugene himself was fairly tall, yet not a single native man in the fortress was shorter than him.

Of course, even setting aside the natives, the fortress itself was enormous.

It was for the Knight March. As soon as Ruhar had been confirmed as the host, the Beast King had undertaken extensive expansions to Lehein’s fortress. Eugene didn’t know exactly how many knightly orders and mercenary companies would be attending, but the enlarged fortress looked more than capable of accommodating every visitor.

“... The burning river...”

A river emitting hot steam flowed around the outskirts of town. Perhaps thanks to it, the fortress wasn’t particularly cold despite the heavy snowfall.

“You may not enter without washing first, or wearing anything other than swimwear.”

“I’m not going in.”

“Outsiders don’t normally come here, but many of our visitors this time have certain misconceptions. This is the edge of the northern snowfields. The Bayar are natives who never left. So they assume we’re ignorant savages.”

The villager guiding Eugene and Kristina shrugged. He, too, stood a full head taller than Eugene.

“But we’re neither as ignorant nor as savage as they think. That burning river... It feels wonderful to bathe there while the snow falls, but that doesn’t mean we enter without washing first. If we insist on doing that, we use our private hot springs at home. That river belongs to the village. We mustn’t inconvenience our neighbors.”

“I see.”

“Lionheart was a friend of our founder, the Brave King. Three hundred years have passed, but the Lionhearts remain friends of Ruhar’s royal family. If you wish to jump into that river immediately, Lord Eugene Lionheart...”

“Has someone already jumped in?”

“Not jumped in. They said it was fascinating and walked across the hot spring. Without even taking off their shoes.”

“That would be Lady Carmen...”

“How did you know?”

“Lady Carmen is the only Lionheart who enjoys such eccentric behavior. As a member of the family, I apologize on her behalf.”

“I’ve already received more than enough apologies.”

The Lionhearts had set out several days before Eugene and, having focused solely on traveling, had already arrived in Lehein. However, Cyan, Ciel, Dior, and Princess Scalia had yet to arrive. Eugene was privately concerned about them, but remembering Anise’s words, he refrained from rushing off in search of them.

“The Lionhearts are staying in this mansion.”

The villager led them to a large mansion near the castle.

“Apart from the castle and the town’s public baths, this mansion has the largest hot-spring bath.”

The kings of the various nations and their royal guards were staying in the castle. There were four days left until the Knight March began. Although Ruhar’s own king had yet to arrive, the kings of other nations were already there.

Euryus, Pope of the Holy Empire.

Straut II, emperor of the Kiel Empire.

Alabur, Sultan of Nahama.

Daindolf, king of Aroth.

Gallabert, king of Shimuin.

Alongside the rulers of empires and similarly powerful nations were King Rigos of the Kingdom of Fleber, director of the Demon-Subjugating Alliance, and the kings of its other member nations. Most of the continent’s rulers, apart from Helmuth’s, were now gathered in this fortress.

“Then please enjoy your stay.”

Having finished guiding them, the villager departed. Eugene gazed up at the nearby castle for a moment.

He could feel several gazes directed at him from there. Arrogant gazes whose owners had neither the intention to conceal them nor any sense that they needed to. Those gazes originated at differing “heights.” The reason was obvious. Not all kings were equal. Empires ranked above kingdoms, and even kingdoms were divided into great powers and minor states.

The second coming of Vermouth the Great.

Lionheart’s young lion, who, even if he wasn’t the next family head, would surely lead the next generation.

The sovereigns who held royal power were watching Eugene.

“... Sir Eugene.”

“I won’t do anything rude. They’re only looking.”

Eugene turned away with a faint chuckle.

“Let them stare all they like from their lofty perches.”

With light steps, Eugene entered the mansion.