Chapter 17: Let’s go home (Complete)

“We’ve finally arrived.
The Kingdom of Leoni.”

A long procession stretched ahead.
The low murmur of voices filled the air.

At the gate of the Kingdom of Leoni, where people were waiting in line, the carriage carrying Surd proceeded without having to wait.

Clop, clop.

Even though it passed the waiting line, no one stopped the carriage.
The black-painted surface and the golden shield emblem displayed upon it were symbols of merit recognized by the royal family.

Understanding that this was a privilege naturally granted to a hero, no one complained about the preferential treatment.

“Hahaha, how does it feel?
You’re finally returning home after two years.”

Surd turned his head and looked at Lapis.

“To think I would get to accompany you on your return.
I’ve lived a long life and seen many things…”
“Zzz…”

A small, rhythmic snore came from her head as it bobbed up and down.
Her long white hair was about to touch the floor of the carriage.

“Hahaha, you must have been quite bored.”

Surd gently brushed Lapis’s hair away from where it was about to touch the floor.

Creeeeak!

The gate blocking their path swung open.
They passed through the castle gate without undergoing any of the usual procedures.

“U… hmm?”

Lapis’s eyelids rose at the grating noise that scraped against her ears.

“Are you awake?”

Rubbing her half-closed eyes, Lapis stretched as hard as she could.
Despite the small and delicate girl’s body, a violent series of sounds that didn’t suit her frame rang out.

Crack, crackle!

“…….”

Crack!
Crack!
Crack!

After finishing her long stretch, Lapis casually rolled her shoulders.

“Ah~ That feels great.
I’m wide awake now.”
“You’re no different from some old man.”
“Huh?”

As he watched Lapis tilt her head, Surd secretly swallowed a sigh.

‘Hmm…
What should I do?’

Now that they had returned to the kingdom, they needed to prepare a new identity for Cain.

‘But…’

Surd looked Lapis up and down.

‘This is quite concerning.’

As the daughter of a hero living in the kingdom, she would inevitably become connected to many people, whether she liked it or not.

Among them would be the filthy influence of nobles.
There would also be jealousy and hatred from those who envied her position.

Back when Cain had been a student,
simply because he was the adopted son of a hero, he had been burdened with excessive expectations that no one could reasonably bear, as well as countless bouts of harassment from insignificant people consumed by jealousy.

‘I really hope the same thing doesn’t happen again.’

Surd narrowed his eyes.

‘I don’t think she’ll actually kill anyone…’

His concern included Lapis’s safety, but that wasn’t his fundamental worry.

‘She really won’t kill anyone, right?’

What Surd was worried about was a situation in which she would personally have to use her hands.

She had spent so long living on the battlefield that, despite being a newly turned adult, it wouldn’t be wrong to say she had never experienced society.

She didn’t know how to accommodate other people’s feelings.
She had no established standard for restricting her own actions.
Rather than a merciful constitution, she had been conditioned by strict military law.

She had lived a life where violence was closer to her than peace.
What would happen if she were placed in another unreasonable situation like the one Cain had experienced before?

‘I don’t even want to imagine it.’

Surd crooked a finger toward Lapis.

“Why?”
“Lapis, I want to ask you something.”
“What is it?”

Lapis tilted her head.

“Suppose someone picks a fight with you.
What would you do?”
“Hmm…
In what way?”
“For example, if someone tried to take your belongings, or directly picked a fight with you.”
“Oh, that?”

The corners of her mouth curled upward.

“If someone embezzles supplies, I would cut off their wrist according to military law, and if I were attacked in a way that threatened my life, I would eliminate the threat through confirmed lethal force—”
“Enough.
Stop.”

Surd pressed his forehead and let out a long sigh.

‘This is bad.
What am I supposed to do?’

There wasn’t even a hint of hesitation in the words that had come from her mouth.
He understood.
She had lived as a soldier for that long, and she had probably been killing as a soldier for just as long.

She should have spent her early childhood in happiness.
Instead, she had been deprived even of that period, tasting the filth of the world to the point of disgust from the moment she was barely more than a tender young sprout.

‘It’s only natural that she’s ignorant of how society works.’

A bitter smile crept across Surd’s lips.

‘It’s probably going to take quite some time to teach her how to live in society.’

His mind was troubled, but he didn’t feel particularly bad.
He had discovered that his child, who had grown far too much, still had areas in which she was lacking.
If it was necessary to nurture those areas, he could remain in the shadows a little longer.

“Anyway, never do that.
If you do, the guards will arrest you.”
“Umm…”
“Answer me.”
“I understand.”

Lapis nodded with a reluctant expression.

‘Good grief.
Does she really understand?’

Creeeeak!

The rattling of the wheels came to a stop.
The coachman knocked lightly on the carriage door.

“We’ve arrived.”

The carriage latch was released, and Surd’s hand reached for the door handle.
He raised his index finger toward Lapis.

“Lapis, remember one thing.”

His hand grasped the door handle.

“Never, no matter what happens, attack anyone.
Understand?”
“Never?”
“Yes.
Never.”

At her nod, the carriage door swung open.
Excited to be back after so long, Lapis stepped out with a light stride.

“Finally, I’m home!
Wait for me, my bed…”

“Lord Surd!
You’ve finally returned!”
“Lord Surd, what on earth happened to Lord Cain…?”
“It was reported in the Leoni newspaper!
Lord Surd, what do you think the future holds for the Western Demon Realm…”

“…….”

‘What the fck is this?’

I had finally returned home in a good mood after so long, so what the hell was this situation?

‘Newspaper?
Why is this suddenly about the newspaper?
And what?’

Lord Cain?
I had never declared myself a god as the idol of lunatics, so why were they attaching that kind of honorific to me?

‘Ah, right.
I am technically a god now, aren’t I?
A demigod, though.’

I hid myself inside the carriage with my robe pulled low over my head.

“What is this?
The date of my return was definitely unknown, so how did they manage to find me here?”

Father glared at the reporters with a face like he’d bitten into a bug.
Despite the intense displeasure radiating from his expression, they shamelessly thrust their recording stones toward him.

“Lord Surd!
Please say a few words about Lord Cain’s death!”

Oh, really?
Do they not value their lives at all?

“Lord Surd!
Do you have any plans to adopt a new son to replace Lord Cain?!”

What the fck?
What?
A new adopted son?

They really just blurted out whatever came to mind.

As all sorts of ridiculous questions poured out, Father’s expression gradually became more menacing.

‘This is ridiculous…’

This feels like sht.

“Hmm…”

Not only were they blocking the way home, they were throwing out such fcking questions without giving the slightest thought to how the other person felt.

‘Should I knock them all unconscious?’

I narrowed my eyes and glanced toward the vital points of the reporters.

‘That one, the neck.
That one, the solar plexus.
That one, the jaw…’

There were eight ordinary people.
Ten seconds should be enough—

“Ahem!
Ahem!”

Father glanced at me and repeatedly cleared his throat.

‘…All right.
I won’t do it.
Happy now?’

Then an unexpected name came from one of the reporters.

“What do you think about the sixth son of Marquis Horne voluntarily applying to become Lord Surd’s adopted son?!”

Hearing that name, I stroked my chin.

‘Marquis Horne’s son?
Why all of a sudden?’

Being a marquis wasn’t exactly a title anyone could look down on.
So why would he abandon that position to seek the place of Father’s adopted son?

‘It’s not as though the man ever cared much about his children in the first place…’

Did he simply find the empty seat appealing because I was dead?

Or was there some circumstance I didn’t know about?

“Hmm…”

The Horne family had claimed the role of royal guardian knights throughout the long history of the Kingdom of Leoni.

Their abilities shone wherever they went, befitting their ancient lineage, and I had encountered his eldest son several times on the front lines.

‘His name was Habel, wasn’t it?’

I stuck out my tongue with a thoroughly fed-up expression.

‘Ugh, that guy was insane.
He wasn’t even human.’

When I first saw him,
he was drenched from head to toe in monster blood, slaughtering the soldiers who followed him.

Their crime was abandoning the front lines because they couldn’t carry out the marquis’s orders and didn’t want to die.

‘The order was basically just to charge headfirst into an army of monsters.
What soldier would willingly follow something that stupid?’

He had both rank and skill.
Those facts gave him enormous power on the front lines.
Knowing this, Habel exploited the situation and ruled over his unit like a king.

But when tyranny becomes too severe, a coup is bound to occur eventually.

In the end, a rebellion broke out in the unit Habel commanded, and he was imprisoned in the Crystal Cage, the noble prison of the Kingdom of Leoni, to take responsibility for it.

‘How many times did I nearly die trying to put that bastard in there?’

The operation to capture Habel had been decided as a solo mission for me.
It had been decided because we could no longer afford any more meaningless sacrifices.

The kingdom requested that I capture him alive if possible, but Commander Robelm firmly stated that there was no need.

-He has the same feeling about him that you do.
-Don’t even think about capturing him alive.
Kill him by whatever means necessary.

And those words had been absolutely correct.

‘That was when I realized, “Wow, there really is a bastard who won’t die even if you kill him.”’

I cut off his arm.
I crushed his legs.
I even gouged out both his eyes.

Yet Habel didn’t fall.
He continued attacking me.

In the end, I intended to bring an axe down and split his head in two.

Swoosh.

‘I never imagined he’d bite down and tear off my finger with his teeth.’

I raised my hand and looked at the finger that had been severed back then.

‘Well, I’ve got it now.’

Looking at the slender finger, I let out a quiet laugh.
I stood there for quite some time, lost in old memories, when—

“But Lord Surd, who is that woman?”

An oblivious reporter pointed his index finger at me.

“You’d better lower that hand right now.
How dare you point at someone like that?”

Father grabbed the reporter’s hand and forced it downward.

“Wh-why are you doing this?
Who exactly is that woman…?”
“She’s my daughter.
So don’t point at her carelessly.”
“What?!
Lord Surd’s daughter?!”

At that moment, everyone’s eyes in the area turned toward me.

“…….”

I was relieved that my face was hidden beneath the robe.
Leaving aside what I looked like when I was a man, this body’s appearance was far too conspicuous.

‘No wonder.
So that’s why he wouldn’t let me take this off.’

The reporters approached me with their recording stones.

“Haa…”

Father let out a short sigh.

“Lapis, go home first.
I have to deal with this before I can leave.”
“Yes, I understand.
If you’re going to be late, should I prepare dinner?”
“I’d appreciate that.”

I gave a small nod and stepped down from the carriage.

“Miss, Lord Surd’s daughter!
If you don’t mind, could we get an interview…?”

Several reporters tried to approach me, but Father never let them go.
I gave Father a small nod and headed toward the road leading home.

“Hmm, I have a feeling I’m going to meet someone strong.”

Beneath a dark sky draped in starlight,
Agrian put a piece of dried meat she had prepared into her mouth in the silent forest where only the hooting of an owl echoed.

“Ugh, it doesn’t taste good.
I wonder if there’s anything delicious in the Kingdom of Leoni?”

Agrian closed her eyes.
She sighed at her own weakness for already missing her parents’ embrace.
Her inability to eat a proper meal was gradually dulling her spirits.

‘I don’t regret leaving in the first place, but…’

What am I supposed to do from here on out?

Agrian’s lips murmured the question.

“Huu…”

After obtaining the Mind’s Eye, the world she saw had become far too chaotic.

She could see the essence of things.
She could see the core of people.
She could gauge the gap between herself and her opponent.

Normally, it would have been an incredibly convenient ability, but continuously receiving information without proper rest was driving her insane.

“Ugh…
I really hate the Mind’s Eye at times like this.”

Agrian gently tapped her eyelids.
Experts who had reached a certain level could supposedly control the Mind’s Eye according to their own will, but Agrian had yet to spend even a month as a beginner who had obtained the Mind’s Eye.

Controlling it through her own will was impossible.

“Still, it’s a relief that closing my eyes makes things easier.”

Agrian picked up the meat roasting over the campfire.

“Is it cooked enough now?”

It was beautiful meat that looked as though it had come from a freshly slaughtered, magnificent pig.
The wild beasts nearby had been drawn in by the smell of the meat, but that was all.
Not a single one dared to charge at Agrian.

“Mmm!
It’s cooked perfectly!”

Chewing the juicy meat, Agrian leaned backward.
The corpse of a massive Wild Boar comfortably supported her back.
Agrian smiled happily as she ate her meat.

“As expected, Wild Boar meat is the best!”

She could feel that the distance to the Kingdom of Leoni was no longer great.
Her senses, honed through years of training, told her so.

Agrian narrowed her eyes.

“Who could it be?”

Her chin trembled slightly.

“The owner of this sensation that’s sending chills down my spine.”

As the Kingdom of Leoni drew nearer, Agrian’s senses began ringing an alarm.
Welcoming the ringing alarm with pleasant anticipation, Agrian gently drew her sword.

“I really want to fight them at least once.”