Repaying Kindness
"Why? Are you going to ask me to stay by Twinkle's side instead of Jun's, like last time?"
"..."
Leonard felt a deep pang of guilt.
But he did not deny her words.
What he was about to do would snatch a child's only family away from him—yet for the future of humanity, it was something that had to be done.
"The concentration of demonic energy in the Labyrinth Demon King's Castle is growing denser by the day. If this keeps up, the Labyrinth will break free in as little as ten years, twenty at most. And still the vast majority of nobles sit on their hands, insisting there's plenty of time."
"So what."
"Please protect Leon until he comes of age. That child—"
"Stop."
Fortuna cut him off without mercy. The usual airheaded charm was gone from her face; sharp, clear-eyed intelligence looked back at him instead.
"I have no interest in human politics. And the one who saves the world isn't that boy Leon—it's the Hero. I am not leaving Jun to protect a child who isn't even the Hero."
"But—"
"You have some vague idea of what I am, don't you? Then you should also know who bound me to Jun. You aren't seriously planning to defy His will—as His servant?"
Leonard clamped his mouth shut and shook his head.
Still unable to let it go, he offered one last proposal.
"Then stay by Jun's side. And if a dangerous moment comes—if, after saving Jun, you still have room to spare—please save Leon. Prioritize him above anyone else."
"You talk as if Jun is going to stay at Leon's side forever."
"Leon holds Jun in high regard. Right now he is Leon's top priority for recruitment."
Fortuna snorted.
The way he thought was laughable. He assumed that if Leon held out a hand, Jun would naturally take it—completely unaware that the person in question thought the exact opposite.
Well, that kind of delusion was practically standard equipment for anyone in a high seat, so she could let it slide.
But there was one thing she could not overlook.
"Arrogant little things."
"Lady Fortuna?"
"He holds Jun in high regard, you say? The likes of you? Who do you think you are to evaluate my kid?"
Fortuna fixed him with a frigid stare. Brilliant holy power began to surge from her entire body, and her wings—once shimmering with rainbow light—bled pure white.
Leonard felt the holy power core in his chest thrash violently. Left alone, it felt ready to burst. He remembered, all over again, exactly who stood before him. An indescribable dread washed over him.
"I deeply apologize for my presumptuous remarks."
He stepped back so the children would not see, then pressed his forehead to the ground and begged her forgiveness.
"...Get up."
Fortuna decided to forgive him.
Honestly, she did not want to. She wanted to punch him square in the face right then and there. But she held back. She had to. Jun still had not finished growing. He still needed Leonard's protection. She could not afford to sour their relationship more than necessary.
That did not mean she planned to simply let it go.
With the holy power she had drawn up at full force for the first time in a long while, she activated her unique authority—the one and only power in this world that even those invaders had feared and desperately tried to seal.
Ziiing∼
A white wheel appeared behind her back. It began to turn counter-clockwise, and a mass of white light burst from Leonard's body and was drawn into it.
Leonard watched the whole thing unfold right in front of him and said nothing.
"Aren't you going to ask what I'm doing?"
"Whatever it is, I don't mind—so long as it eases Lady Fortuna's anger even a little."
"...If you put it that way, what does that make me?"
Fortuna let out a light sigh and waved the wheel away.
"You're going to have absolutely rotten luck for a while."
"...Is the absorption of fortune Lady Fortuna's power?"
"Think whatever you want."
Leaving only those words, she headed toward Jun.
Leonard stayed where he was, quietly watching her go.
Caw! Caw!
Splat!
"...The effect is excellent."
A crow that happened to be flying past dropped a load of shit right on his head.
"What did you talk about with the priest?"
"...Secret."
Fortuna hesitated, then finally shook her head. Seeing that, Jun did not press her any further.
Through the soul bond, her agitated emotions had come through loud and clear, and he desperately wanted to ask what had happened—but he figured there was no need to know if she would not tell him.
Fortuna was deeply grateful for that reaction.
How am I supposed to say it? It's embarrassing.
Getting angry because they evaluated her kid however they pleased, then punishing the other party with her power. That was exactly the kind of thing an overprotective mom would do.
Belatedly realizing how mortifying her actions had been, Fortuna buried her face in Jun's hair to hide her bright-red face.
"Fort, I'm covered in sweat right now."
"It's fine, so stay still!"
Despite Jun's concern, she not only refused to peel herself off his head but clung even tighter. His sweat soaked her whole body, but she did not mind. Perhaps the blessing's influence was starting to show—he smelled good, and it felt like she was being marked as his, which was exciting in its own way...
"Aaaah!"
"What's with you all of a sudden? Did you get heatstroke?"
Startled by her sudden scream, Jun asked why. No answer came. Only embarrassment and self-loathing flowed through the soul bond.
"Hmph! A fairy just did what fairies do. What's the big deal?"
Donald, leaning against a tree with his arms crossed and striking every pose he could invent, said it with a sneer.
Leon, who had been chatting with the girls while glancing this way, shook his head as if to say that was nothing to laugh off so lightly.
"You shouldn't be so optimistic. She really might have gotten heatstroke."
"We're the ones who were running under the blazing sun. That chest monster was under the shade with the priest."
"Being in the shade doesn't mean you don't get hot."
"Well, with a chest that huge, she might get hot, yeah."
"..."
Leon just turned his head, face red, and did not refute him. He seemed to think the reason was not entirely baseless.
...Honestly, Jun thought it was possible too.
"Jun, tell your fairy that those uselessly huge—"
"Fairy Blow!"
"Guek!"
Fortuna's grape-sized fist drove straight into Donald's gut. Her sudden ambush punched clean through his Hardening trait and dealt him a critical hit.
The girls who had been quietly watching the situation all cheered at once.
"Y-You chest monster!"
"Useless, you said. You dared to call them useless. Pudgy—you're dead by my hand today!"
Donald and Fortuna glared daggers at each other, then as if on cue charged at the same time.
Since this happened often enough, Jun looked away from the two and went back to savoring his sweet rest.
But before long, a murderous intent that pricked at his skin completely ruined the mood.
Would you guys cut it out already.
With a fed-up expression, Jun turned toward the source of the killing intent. His eyes met Frank's and the twins'—all three staring at him as if they wanted him dead.
Ever since the fight in the clearing, the three of them had directed this kind of murderous intent at Jun whenever they saw him. It was so severe that Leonard had scolded them harshly, but instead of dialing it back, they only intensified it. Because of that, Leonard had given up on correcting them and was currently leaving them be.
"Donald."
"What! Damn it, quit it already! He's calling me!"
Donald, who had been getting one-sidedly beaten by Fortuna, answered Jun's call like a drowning man grabbing a rope.
"Why do Frank and the twins hate me so much? If it was just envy of my abilities, they should hate Leon more than me."
From a third party's perspective, Jun's abilities were pathetic. His psychokinesis did not show outwardly, and his magic was half-baked—only spatial magic, non-attribute magic, and basic magic.
In comparison, Leon's abilities were all things others would envy. He possessed Aura, which explosively boosted the performance of body and tools, and the Nullification psychic ability that only the current emperor of the Britia Empire—to which Primuni Village belonged—and a very small number of past emperors had been born with.
The latter was a secret known only to Leon himself and Leonard, but Jun had accidentally discovered it while training his spatial specialization. Besides that, he seemed to have some trait from Aura as well, but even Jun did not know about that yet.
Anyway, if they were hostile out of envy of abilities, the three should have been more hostile toward Leon—who had high-performance Aura with a good public reputation—rather than Jun, who had no proper abilities to speak of.
Well, maybe they just found Jun easier to pick on. Jun did not think that was it.
"They're jealous of your tenacity and mental fortitude."
"...Really?"
The completely unexpected answer made Jun ask again without thinking. He had assumed he had accidentally destroyed something precious to them or something—but it was just that?
"Really. More than anything else, those three envy your tenacity and mental fortitude."
"Why?"
Donald whipped his head away as if he did not want to answer. When Fortuna raised her fist in response, he scowled deeply and opened his mouth.
"Those guys know abilities aren't something you just get handed easily. That's why they trained, and even took those damn elixirs."
"They did, yeah. Though it was really short-lived."
"Right. But you kept at it consistently and eventually gained physical abilities on par with me and that guy—Leon. Every time they see you like that, they get jealous of you and ashamed of themselves."
Hearing that much, Jun understood.
To those three, he was the future they had wanted most of all.