Chapter 34: The Angel Who Makes It Rain (4)

Episode 34: The Angel Who Makes It Rain (4)

Hearing this declaration, the boy thought,

‘Judged the world? What on earth did Leffrey in my past life do?’

He was too weak for that.

Of course, that wasn’t important.

‘So it seems Naiad has a grudge against me…’

This was what was truly important. Naiad, the water spirit king who had survived until the very end, her authority and power surpassed that of most heads of state.

To have made an enemy of such a spirit…

‘And she calls Leffrey arrogant?’

The one famous for being truly arrogant and cruel was… you, Naiad. And the ‘Leffriel’ That Leffrey knew was an angel who knew how to pity a child and a mother.

Leffrey organized his thoughts and said,

“How can you possibly tear Yumari’s heart to shreds? All you can do is harshly criticize the food she makes.”

Of course, Yumari cried because of that criticism. But there was no need to tell Naiad that.

“Right, the theme this time is cooking.”

Naiad said with a cruel smile.

“Then let’s change the rules a bit. For this cooking competition, you must personally gather the ingredients from my lake… how about it, don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

Gather the ingredients directly from Naiad’s lake?

‘No, this is a good rule for Yumari and me. Yumari doesn’t have good ingredients because of the sabotage, and I couldn’t get good ingredients compared to other teams. But why this rule…’

What was in Naiad’s lake?

Leffrey searched his memories of the past.

‘A special flower blooms in Naiad’s lake. It’s a plant called the Reflection Flower. When someone approaches it…’

…it materializes and scatters the memories of that person.

‘Yumari did all the dirty work for the Seocheon Yu. She wouldn’t have been able to survive otherwise. But if those dirty deeds were materialized and broadcasted…’

It would be Yumari’s downfall.

Leffrey bit his lip and muttered,

“You…”

Leffrey’s face was filled with anger. Naiad chuckled, enjoying the sight.

“Leffriel… you can make that kind of expression too? I thought you were always emotionless and would never understand human feelings.”

This situation was somewhat similar to a hostage situation.

A criminal single-handedly pushing his demands while holding someone’s life hostage, and a helpless police officer who had to stop it with words.

Leffrey made up his mind.

“Then you have to promise too.”

“Promise what?”

“If we win, you’re banned from doing this kind of thing ever again! And as a sign of apology, hand over your contract rights!”

“What if I refuse?”

Leffrey recalled the strong figures he had met so far. Lusa, Klein, and Park Jin-ho… the way they carried themselves as powerful figures.

And he muttered in a low voice,

“Then I’ll have no choice but to show you the power of Leffriel…”

That’s right. Leffrey bluffed. And he even struck a pose as if he had something like a black flame dragon slumbering in his left hand.

He didn’t know exactly what kind of angel Leffriel was, but judging by what the spirits said, he seemed to have been a high-ranking angel. And perhaps as strong as his rank… then he could probably pull off a bluff like this.

Anyway, as Leffrey bluffed…

“Your Majesty! We apologize!”

“We were wrong! We were wrong!”

“L-Leffriel! Waaaaah! Waaaaah!”

The spirits instantly panicked. It was almost unbelievable that they were the same spirits who had laughed at Leffrey with Naiad just moments ago.

In the end, Naiad couldn’t stand the humiliation and screamed,

“You pathetic things! Get out!”

And Naiad looked at Leffrey and muttered,

“Fine. I’ll accept your proposal… keuk, I’m going to win anyway.”

“Why do you think that?”

“The things I judge through the Blessing of the Spirits are music, art, food, and such. And those are all cultures that humans have created.”

Naiad gracefully spun around and showed Leffrey various works of art.

“You, an emotionless being who doesn’t understand humans, a mere puppet of the heavens, can’t understand such culture. You will fail.”

“…We’ll see what happens when we actually try.”

Hahahahahaha- hahahahahaha- Naiad left with her characteristic laughter and gradually disappeared. And the Blessing of the Spirits event headquarters returned to its original state.

Numerous people were working in the headquarters. The reason Leffrey hadn’t seen them before was…

‘Probably Naiad’s doing.’

Leffrey clenched his fist.

A staff member, seeing him like that, spoke up,

“Uh, student, are you here to apply for participation?”

“Yes. There’s no one on Yumari’s team right now, right? I’ve just arrived.”

It wasn’t a lie.

It was true that Yumari had no team.

“Ah, I see. I was wondering why they weren’t here, but you’ve finally arrived. Alright, give me your student ID card and I’ll register your application, so you can go in quickly.”

Leffrey’s angelic face worked best when he was doing something that wasn’t befitting of an angel. Especially, to be specific, when he was deceiving someone…

‘It can’t be helped. It’s all for my Angelic Power… no, for the sake of this world.’

That’s right.

Anyway, if he could help Yumari win the Blessing of the Spirits this time, he would be able to gain Angelic Power and Naiad’s contract rights.

‘I should sell the contract rights for a high price.’

That was also for the best. And so, Leffrey arrived at Yumari’s waiting room.

“Who is it?”

Leffrey saw a waiting room in complete disarray.

The ingredients were already ruined, and Yumari was sitting in the midst of it all with a peaceful expression.

She wasn’t angry at all.

No, she was pretending not to be.

“The scent of the sky… Leffrey?”

“How did you know without even looking…”

…Leffrey was a little surprised. How did she recognize him without even looking?

But he couldn’t show his surprise.

“Hello, Yumari.”

Leffrey casually greeted Yumari.

And then, a sharp voice,

“Hello.”

Leffrey looked at Yumari again. Her long black hair was neatly tied in a ponytail. The small horn on her forehead. And her unforgettable appearance that had helped her become a world-renowned hero.

And that fake smile, as if she were acting.

‘The girl from the poster in my room… is right before my eyes…’

Leffrey couldn’t forget her appearance.

His mouth opened, barely suppressing his emotions.

“I came to participate in the Blessing of the Spirits with you.”

“Why? You must have many other options…”

Actually, this wasn’t a lie either.

Leffrey had never chosen other options in the first place.

“No, they wouldn’t accept me.”

“Same here. Leave.”

Yumari muttered with a blank expression.

He knew she would react this way.

‘Yumari and I have quite a history. Naturally, she wouldn’t accept me easily. I might have come here to betray her. Hmm, then it can’t be helped…’

Leffrey pretended to hesitate and said,

“Hmm… that’s a shame. I have a surefire way to win this Blessing of the Spirits.”

“A surefire way?”

“Yes, but it can’t be helped if you don’t want it.”

Then Yumari gently asked Leffrey,

“How can I trust that?”

“I just changed the rules for this competition.”

“What?”

“We can’t win in a competition of ingredients. As you know, I’m not in a position to acquire expensive ingredients like the other teams, and you had all your ingredients ruined by those people who betrayed you.”

Yumari muttered in disbelief,

“So?”

“So I changed the rules. The dishes presented at this Blessing of the Spirits must use ingredients that can only be obtained from Naiad’s lake.”

‘Actually, Naiad was the one who changed it…’

Well, since Naiad and Leffrey changed the rules during their conversation… it could be considered that Leffrey changed it, right?

[Reforming an unreasonable system is an angelic act!]

[You have gained Angelic Power.]

‘As expected, saying it like this brings in Angelic Power.’

Even the status window acknowledged it.

Leffrey nodded arrogantly.

“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it…”

Yumari quickly opened her phone and contacted several places to see if this information was true.

“They said it was suddenly changed. With no reason? It seems like a direct order from higher-ups… is this really true?”

Yumari couldn’t help but be confused.

Yumari, who hung up the phone, looked at Leffrey with a look of disbelief. Then Leffrey declared arrogantly,

“Do you believe in my skills now?”

Yumari looked at Leffrey again.

How, how on earth?

“…I believe you.”

But she had no choice but to say that.

“I don’t know why, but you hate me… is it okay to help someone like me?”

“I can give up a lot of things for future gains.”

It was a lie.

Yumari interpreted those words as a lie.

The skills to even change the rules of an event hosted by Naiad herself, to think someone with such skills chose her, the most unlikely candidate, because he couldn’t find another team?

This was truly unbelievable.

Leffrey had deliberately chosen her.

She could roughly guess the reason.

‘This boy, he’s pitying me again. Even though he hates me, he’s pitying my situation again.’

There was only one person in this world who had shown Yumari that kind of love. Someone who had the same scent of the sky as the boy.

And the boy reached out his hand.

“You can do anything for future gains too, right?”

Even betray humanity.

She swallowed those words.

“Yes…”

Yumari smiled slightly.

This wasn’t an act.

*

*

*

*

The Blessing of the Spirits, the only chance to receive Naiad’s blessing, began.

The first round of the Blessing of the Spirits was to gather ingredients from Naiad’s lake. People were puzzled by the suddenly changed schedule, but…

“You idiots. Can’t you see? Someone pulled some strings behind the scenes and changed the format to a day event.”

“Right, with the power of a magic noble like me, it’s entirely possible. Thinking about fairness, this is a much better way to do it.”

As soon as those words were spoken, the doubts disappeared. And in the minds of Hongwol and Jack, who had that conversation…

‘This rule change is advantageous to Leffrey…!’

That was the only thing they could think of.

And so, Jack and Hongwol, who had that conversation…

“What? A beast folk?”

“Annoying jerk.”

Said those words while glaring at each other.

And the first-year martial arts students occupied a section of the stands. Their banners were filled with phrases that would have made Leffrey cringe if he saw them.

“Anyone who touches Leffrey is really…”

“Just try to judge that Leffrey is not good enough, just because he has no backing. We’ll call in all our family’s connections.”

“If anything happens, I’m going to run over there with my knuckles.”

Generally, extreme fans who caused disturbances at competitions were called hooligans. In that sense, the current first-year martial arts students were excellent hooligans.

And the professors watching the competition from afar also…

“I don’t see Leffrey.”

“What? Is it okay for that vice principal to favor one student like that?”

Lusa scoffed.

“…And why are you holding those cumbersome cheering tools made by the first-year martial arts students?”

“Should I throw away what my students gave me? And I’m not the vice principal, so it’s okay for me to show favoritism.”

They were saying similar things.

Meanwhile, at Naiad’s lake, where the gathering of ingredients was about to begin…

“We claimed this spot, so move.”

“No, you should move. We’re going to make mushroom dishes.”

“Don’t care. Move.”

A fight was about to break out.

The ingredients were no longer important.

It had long become a battle of pride.

‘Wait, I thought this Blessing of the Spirits was a cooking competition…’

Leffrey sighed.

Next to him, Yumari was preparing for battle.

“Yumari, what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to take that spot. There must be good ingredients there.”

“No need for that!”

“Don’t be ridiculous. At this point, fighting is the only answer.”

The stress was slowly building up.

The Blessing of the Spirits wasn’t supposed to be this kind of test.

“Let’s avoid fighting.”

Leffrey naturally pulled Yumari back.

It was a rare angelic statement from Leffrey.

But what was the reason for suddenly saying this?

“What are you talking about?”

“There’s a way to win without fighting.”

Naturally, it was because of Angelic Power.

[Preventing a pointless battle is an angelic act!]

[You have gained Angelic Power.]

‘If things go according to my plan… I’ll get even more Angelic Power!’

Leffrey smiled.