Chapter 686
Chapter 686
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 686
Chapter Title: Flowers in Tartaros
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“Oh? Leo? What brings you here? Did you meet up with Dweno and decide to stop by?”
Karl had a welcoming expression on his face.
In front of Karl, dwarf and beastkin children were lined up.
The children were receiving pieces of candy from him, one by one.
“Wow!”
“Thank you.”
The children who received candy popped it into their mouths, their faces beaming with happiness.
Ar was pulling a cart filled with children.
In the middle of the spacious yard, Driana was fixing the children's toys, while Iliana was on all fours like a horse, giving rides to the children one by one on her back.
*An orphanage.*
“Dweno!”
“Wow! It's Dweno!”
The children spotted Dweno next to Leo and swarmed over to him.
“Welcome back, Dweno!”
“Have you all been well?”
Dweno smiled, patting each child's head one by one before asking.
“Where is Enniha?”
“She's inside.”
“Painting, I see.”
The orphanage children gathered around Leo, looking at him with curiosity.
“Wow, are you a human too, mister?”
At that, Leo simply nodded without a word.
His somewhat cold demeanor made the children flinch and hide behind Dweno.
“Looks like that personality of yours won't change even in death. Would it kill you to be kind to the children like your friends over there?”
“Ar! Faster! Faster!”
“Go, Iliana, go!”
“Woooooah!”
Ar, pulling the cart, picked up the pace.
“Giddy-up! Giddy-up!”
“Hey. I'm getting tired, can we take a break now?”
“No way!”
The little dwarf girl on Iliana's back shook her head.
“Ah! Class Rep!”
Iliana crawled over to Leo and tugged on his pant leg.
“Switch with me! My back is going to give out at this rate!”
“Your back isn't weak enough to give out from something like this. Volunteering to play with children is part of a hero's duty, so hang in there. Or... would you rather continue your training?”
At his words, Iliana's face went pale. She helped the child on her back get down and shouted.
“Next!”
Having become popular toys, Ar and Iliana played happily with the children.
“This is why you need a skill.”
“Right. Otherwise, you're the one who suffers.”
Driana and Karl watched them and chuckled.
“How detestable.”
“What is it now?”
“Since when have you been one to emphasize what it means to be a hero?”
Leo shrugged at Dweno's words.
“I don't know about the inside, but the outside should at least look the part, shouldn't it?”
“Tsk. You've picked up some bad habits. Of all the things to learn, you had to pick up Lisinas's knack for swindling?”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
“And Luna's shamelessness, too. You seem to learn all the bad things.”
Dweno looked at him with a pathetic expression.
“They say married couples grow to resemble each other, but you weren't in that kind of relationship with those two, were you?”
At that, Leo turned his gaze forward.
*What should I say?*
*Should I tell him I've already met Luna and Lisinas and that I know how they feel?*
*And that Lisinas even tricked me into a marriage?*
*Even if I said that, Dweno's reaction would be predictable.*
*'As expected, you're a blockhead.'*
*There's no need to ask for trouble.*
As he was thinking this, Dweno approached the orphanage children and said.
“You must be tired, so go get some rest in the mansion.”
Leo nodded at his words and opened the mansion door.
*Creeak—*
Just before stepping into the mansion.
He took one last look at Dweno, who was laughing and playing with the children.
Back when they were in Gardsrone.
Lisinas, Luna, and Ar-on often looked after the children at the orphanage.
Lisinas, who never doubted that those children were the future.
Luna, who simply enjoyed playing with the children.
Ar-on, who just plain liked children.
Their reasons were all different.
But all three of them treated the children with sincerity.
*'Those kids followed the three of them well, too.'*
But he and Dweno had always kept their distance from the children.
In his past life, Leo hadn't been particularly fond of children.
*'Not that I like them now, either.'*
Leo didn't get close to children.
The only children who ever approached him were Berkia and Bihar.
*'Well, I always had a scowl on my face.'*
It was only natural that they wouldn't approach him, thinking he was scary.
But Dweno was different.
He always watched the children with a benevolent smile.
Dweno himself didn't dislike children.
However, he always kept his distance from them.
He maintained a certain line with the children of the orphanage.
Leo had never found that particularly strange.
*'The others didn't think it was strange either.'*
He'd simply assumed that while Dweno didn't dislike children, he didn't like them enough to dote on them.
But seeing him now, that wasn't the case.
*'I don't know Dweno's past.'*
They could trust each other more than anyone.
He would entrust his life to Dweno without hesitation.
Even if Dweno were to betray his trust.
There would be no regrets.
Such was the bond between the Great Heroes.
“Dweno! I drew a picture of a flower!”
“Haha! You drew it better than Enniha.”
“I don't think so.”
Dweno chuckled heartily as he looked at the flower drawing the beastkin girl showed him.
A dwarf boy, who was drawing on the opposite side, spoke up.
“But how pretty are real flowers?”
“Very pretty.”
“I heard a wide field of flowers is as pretty as the stars in the night sky!”
Seeing the children's sparkling eyes, Dweno smiled gently.
In the Age of Calamity, flowers were a species on the verge of extinction.
This place, too, was part of Tartaros's domain, so flowers were hard to find.
To these children, flowers were something they had only ever seen in pictures.
*'Even in Gardsrone, they were rarer than magic stones.'*
Dweno closed his eyes with a bitter expression.
*'Until a certain fool completed an absurdly ridiculous magic.'*
*Snap—!*
The sound of a finger snapping echoed.
“Wooooooooow!”
“They're so pretty!”
The excited cheers of the children could be heard.
When he opened his eyes, his vision was filled with flowers blooming in profusion.
Dweno turned around without realizing it.
There stood Leo, with his characteristically emotionless eyes and an indifferent expression.
Then, with a face that looked somewhat annoyed, he went inside.
“Honestly.”
Dweno let out a dry laugh.
*'There are times I can almost understand why those fools fell for that blockhead.'*
***
“Aaaaaargh! This isn't it!”
Leo, who had entered the mansion and was about to lie down on the living room sofa, shot up at the sound of a scream from the second floor.
He scratched his head and went upstairs.
When he reached the second floor, he sensed a presence from the room at the very end of the hall.
Opening the door, he saw the back of Enniha, who was painting with a haggard face in a small, dark room with the curtains drawn to block the sunlight.
On the canvas in front of Enniha was a painting of flowers.
“What are you doing?”
“Huh? When did you get here?”
Enniha turned around, scratching her greasy hair as she spoke.
“Just... I wanted to show the children some flowers, but it's not going well. It's been a very long time since I've seen a flower myself.”
The painting on the canvas was quite well done.
But the flowers lacked a sense of vitality.
Besides that one, the room was filled with paintings of flowers and sunrises.
“You seem to like flowers.”
“Not really.”
“First time I've seen an elf who doesn't like flowers.”
Elves, who seek harmony with nature, love flowers.
It is because they are a natural beauty, not an artificial one.
“Hmph. I just like the sun the most.”
“Why?”
“Because it's beautiful.”
Leo let out a small laugh at Enniha's extremely simple reason and pulled back the curtains.
“Then just focus on painting the sun. The flowers have already bloomed.”
“What?”
Enniha's eyes widened as she looked out the window.
“What? What is this? Where did these flowers come from?”
A field of flowers blooming in profusion.
Enniha was stunned to see the children playing among them.
“It's magic.”
“Magic? But this isn't illusion magic.”
“It's magic that makes flowers bloom.”
“There's magic like that?”
“It's magic created by a certain foolish elf.”
It was magic from Leo's distant past, yet magic that would only be born in Enniha's near future.
“Hah~ Should I have learned magic if I knew this was possible?”
Enniha, still in awe, looked at Leo.
“Did you use this magic?”
“That's right.”
“That's amazing.”
Enniha said in admiration.
“I'm glad we... no, I'm glad I was able to meet you.”
“All of a sudden?”
When Leo gave her a puzzled look, Enniha smiled bitterly.
“Yeah. I'm grateful. Thanks to you, I feel like Dweno has finally found a comrade.”
“A comrade.”
Leo crossed his arms, leaned against the window, and looked out at Dweno as he spoke.
“Are you saying you're not Dweno's comrade?”
“I'm more of a burden than a comrade.”
Enniha smiled self-deprecatingly.
“It's not just me. Ivaldi is nothing but a burden to Dweno.”
Enniha continued speaking as she washed her brush in a water pot.
“You must know it too. Dweno's overwhelming strength.”
*He knew it better than anyone.*
*Because Dweno was the Great Hero who had saved the world alongside him.*
An iron will that seemed like it would never waver or bend.
Even Lisinas, who was initially terrified of Dweno and said he couldn't join the party, and Luna, who bickered with him at the drop of a hat.
Even Ar-on, who was always scared and needed someone to lean on.
*'Even me.'*
When they wavered.
Or when they bent.
He had hammered them with that iron will, forging their resolve to be stronger and straightening them out.
Dweno wasn't simply the smith who made the weapons they used.
He was the hammer that had made them sharper and harder.
*'The past doesn't matter.'*
*He didn't want to reveal it himself.*
But.
Confronting Dweno's past like this, he felt pathetic for having done nothing but rely on him.
Enniha said.
“He could never fight properly because he was always protecting us. We've always held Dweno back.”
“Did Dweno say that?”
“No. He never said that, but...”
Enniha shook her head.
“With you, someone of equal strength, Dweno was clearly able to use his full power.”
Enniha clenched her fist.
“He says he's not, but... Dweno definitely has the power to save this world. Everyone in Ivaldi and I believe that.”
“So you're glad you met me?”
“Yes.”
Leo let out a small laugh.
“You're not a burden to Dweno.”
“What?”
“And neither are the people of Ivaldi.”
He didn't have to think hard to know what a profound impact this elf had on the life of that damn, self-proclaimed perverted artist.
The driving force behind that iron will, which had supported them and never wavered, was right before his eyes.
Enniha's.
He had carried the hopes of the people of Ivaldi and moved forward without wavering.
*'Just as I had.'*
In their final moments.
Until the very moment they closed their eyes, they must have believed in Dweno.
*'Just as you all did.'*
“Just as you believe in Dweno, Dweno believes in you, too. So don't say things like being a burden.”
Leo looked at Enniha.
“Dweno will answer your faith in him.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because that guy is going to save the world.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I know the future.”
“What?”
Enniha's eyes widened.
Enniha, who had been staring at Leo with a bewildered face, was impressed.
“Wow, I almost fell for that.”
“But it's true.”
“Amazing. In a peaceful era, you would have become an incredible con artist. Where did you learn to do that?”
Watching the impressed Enniha, Leo looked out the window at Dweno with a serious expression.
*'Am I really becoming like that swindling lizard, just as he said?'*
***
*Thud—! Thud—!*
The ground trembles with every step.
Its mere existence causes the surrounding life to wither and die.
The Giant King Gias laughed as he gazed upon the rampaging world before him.
“I will make you regret coming to my world, surviving hero.”