Ch.148Aria and Leona – 4

The Hero’s father suddenly asking me to take care of his daughter while offering a handshake naturally drew everyone’s attention. Perhaps because I had used healing magic on him, all eyes focused on me in an instant.

“Dad!”

The awkward atmosphere only dissipated when Leona came running over. She hurriedly examined her father, asking if he was alright, and everyone’s attention shifted to them.

But when Leona’s father pointed at me saying, “I’m fine because this child you mentioned healed me,” the attention returned to me.

“It would be better if we returned to the village rather than staying here. We should also clean up those things. They should be dead already, so you can rest assured.”

“That’s right. We’ll handle the cleanup, so you should rest.”

I tried to change the subject to somehow diffuse the atmosphere. Fortunately, attention quickly shifted to the frozen kobold statues. The surviving men approached the ice statues with weapons in hand.

I could easily shatter them with a wave of my hand, but they seemed to want this small revenge, so I left them to it. They must have had a lot of pent-up feelings, as the frozen kobold group was thoroughly smashed to pieces.

We immediately returned to the village, and the men who had gone on the subjugation mission with Leona’s father each thanked me before returning to their families.

Judging by the gazes I felt from all around, rumors would likely spread throughout the entire village before long.

“Thank you again for saving my life and the lives of my friends. You’ve essentially saved our entire village.”

Leona’s father bowed his head as soon as he sat at the table. Silvia was also bowing beside him.

“I only did what needed to be done. More importantly, what exactly happened?”

I had briefly seen the kobolds before they were frozen. They were clearly different from the kobolds I knew. Their movements were much faster, and their reaction speed far surpassed the original.

Originally, the incident in the source material was problematic because of a mass outbreak of monsters, not because stronger ones had appeared.

‘I have a rough idea, but…’

There was only one possible explanation I could think of: the aura of the Demon God. Nothing else could explain why kobolds, classified as the lowest-grade monsters, had become so powerful.

“I don’t know either. Until recently, we could easily subjugate them with our own strength, but suddenly they changed like that.”

“Did you perhaps sense an aura different from what you usually feel from monsters? Anything at all.”

“…Now that I think about it, I believe I did.”

That answer was enough. I internally reached my conclusion. The demonic energy had flowed into this area. Either the entire space between this village and the front line was contaminated, or it was specifically targeting the hero or me.

“Mira, about that different aura…”

“You’re thinking correctly. It’s the same as what appeared when we caught Mahbat.”

“…So it is that.”

Leona bit her lip slightly. She couldn’t possibly forget the black energy that had swarmed around Mahbat, which had awakened her holy sword when she tried to dispel it.

“Aria. I’m sorry, but we’ll have to have lunch a bit later.”

“It’s fine, Miss Mira. This matter is more urgent. It can’t be helped. My parents will understand.”

Now that I knew what we were dealing with, I needed to go eliminate the source. As I stood up after asking for understanding, Aria frantically waved her hands, having guessed my intentions.

Since it hadn’t taken long to rescue Wilhelm and return, it was still lunchtime, and dealing with those creatures wouldn’t take much time either if there were no complications, but just in case.

“You’re going right now? Without investigating?”

“I noticed a place earlier. I’ll check if that’s the right spot and come back.”

That was a lie. Although I had looked around while running, I hadn’t seen any particularly distinctive places. I was just planning to visit the location where they had caused trouble in the original story.

“Should I come too? You might need the holy sword, like last time.”

“No. You stay here with Aria and protect this place. Those creatures might attack the village.”

That’s what actually happened in the original story. If Priscilla hadn’t been there, the village would have been destroyed while Leona and Aria were subjugating the Kobold King.

When I rejected her suggestion, a brief look of disappointment crossed Leona’s face, but she soon nodded resolutely at the mention of protecting the village.

“Just a moment, Student Mira.”

As I was heading outside with the four of them seeing me off, Silvia carefully followed me out. Her face showed a complex mixture of emotions.

“What is it?”

“I feel my thanks have been insufficient. Thank you so much for saving my husband, Student Mira.”

“As I said earlier, I only did what needed to be done.”

“Isn’t there one more thing that needs to be done? You must return safely without getting hurt. For your own sake, and for my daughter and Aria’s sake too.”

“Of course I will. I haven’t gotten my free lunch yet, after all.”

There was no need to make them worry unnecessarily. When I replied with a joke, Silvia’s expression softened a bit.

“By the way, I heard my husband asked you to take good care of our Leona?”

“That’s…”

I was momentarily at a loss for words. Seeing my reaction, Silvia chuckled.

“It seems you don’t share the same feelings as Leona yet. But that’s alright. I’ve raised her to be a girl whose charm is second to none. I’m sure she’ll be able to change your mind.”

‘Change my mind, huh…’

Though she probably didn’t mean it that way, I did need to change my mind in a different sense. To achieve the “happy ending” I spoke of, we possessors would eventually have to return to our original world.

The question was what would happen to the people of this world after we left. Naturally, my feelings toward the four of us possessors and the characters of this world had to be different.

I wasn’t treating the people of this world as fake. However, if I followed through on my determination to return “home,” I couldn’t ignore what might happen to the people of this world. That’s what I meant by different.

“…I’ll try my best.”

“Oh my. It would be troublesome if you tried too hard. She’d make you fall for her in no time.”

Silvia took my mention of “effort” in a different sense and smiled as usual. She seemed much more relaxed now. I calmly said I’d be going and turned away.

Before heading out, I went to find the guard at the entrance to give him a hint. I told him that monsters might attack here, and if that happened, he should listen to Leona and Aria.

Rumors must have spread already, as the guard, who could have been old enough to be my father, saw me off with a stiff salute and perfect posture.

Using both physical enhancement and acceleration simultaneously, I headed for the place described in the original story. It shouldn’t be difficult to find, given the distinctive cliff nearby.

‘How did it get this far?’

In the original story, this incident occurred because the Second Legion Commander Circe had provoked the Kobold King. It was to instill a sense of urgency in the hero and saint that “the village might be attacked.”

But Circe had been killed by Astaroth. So the question was how the Demon God’s aura had reached here. Or perhaps it was a random occurrence, like when the Vampire Lord awakened in the artificial dungeon.

“…Nothing here?”

I arrived at the cliff face covered in rocks amidst the dense forest and looked around. It was exactly as Priscilla had described.

There was another difference too. Unlike the cave in the original story, which was teeming with kobolds from the entrance, I hadn’t encountered a single kobold even after walking quite far inside with Eternity drawn.

There were only traces of monsters having passed through on the ground, but nothing was detected even by my detection magic.

‘Could it be somewhere else?’

If so, I’d have to scan the entire mountain range with detection magic.

—Kirik?

I realized my worries were unnecessary when I reached the deepest level of the cave. The Kobold King and a swarm of kobolds busily moving around the vast space greeted me.

They were so altered by the Demon God’s aura that their difference from the originals was obvious at a glance.

“Were you waiting for me to come here?”

I let out a wry laugh when I saw the path behind me being blocked by boulders as soon as I entered the cavern. It seemed the fact that I hadn’t encountered a single kobold on the way wasn’t mere coincidence.

—Kkeureuk! Kkeureuk!

The Kobold King made strange noises in agitation, tapping the ground with the staff in its hand. Hundreds of kobolds visible to the eye began charging at me all at once.

—Seogeak!

And when they could no longer hear their king’s cry, they collectively stopped and turned around. In the place where the Kobold King had been sitting just moments ago, there remained only a piece of meat divided into exactly eight pieces.

Whether enhanced by the Demon God’s aura or not, a kobold is still just a kobold. Even until the moment its body was cut into eight pieces by my slash, it hadn’t realized what was happening to it.

I took a step forward with Eternity wrapped in mana. The kobolds, who had been charging at me with such vigor, now hesitated and backed away.

Since they had blocked what was probably the only escape route with their own hands, there was only one thing left to do.

“This creature was likely the cause of the recent incident. Though I’m not entirely certain, so we’ll need to keep watching for a while.”

When I brought the Kobold King’s head, Wilhelm received it with a look of surprise. It was far too large to be an ordinary kobold.

“How did such a creature… I understand. Thank you. We’ll need to discuss this.”

After Wilhelm left to discuss the matter, with Silvia following behind him, Leona awkwardly approached me.

Judging by Silvia’s knowing smile as she glanced back at us before following her husband, she had probably encouraged Leona somehow.

“What is it?”

“…Um, Mira. Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No. Why would I be hurt by mere kobolds?”

“Th-that’s good. So, about that… I told Aria’s parents we’d have dinner with them… but, if it’s okay with you, would you like to have lunch at the eastern lake? Just the three of us… you, me, and Aria…”

The eastern lake. I’d heard of that place before.

It was also where Aria and Leona had almost kissed in the heat of the moment in the original story.