Damn Reincarnation

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“Hmm.” Anise didn’t have a good answer, so she cleared her throat instead while slowly loosening her grip.
She descended, then looked around before commenting, “It’s clean.”

“I know,” replied Eugene.

The Nur had been a monster as big as a giant.
It wouldn’t have been strange for its black blood to dye all the snow on the cliff, but strangely enough, the ground was spotless and white.
Moreover, there were no traces of a body being dragged away.

“You’re right.
It’s like magic,” muttered Eugene with a scoff.
Was it possible that Molon had learned magic during the three hundred years? It wasn’t an impossibility.

Eugene turned his head and looked at Anise.
She had said that Molon had disappeared with the monster’s body like magic.
Yes, it was true that Anise didn’t know much about magic.
But just because Anise herself didn’t know how to use magic didn’t mean she couldn’t recognize it.
This phenomenon had not been caused by magic but by something similar to magic.

Eugene looked around once more.
Even while holding Akasha in his cloak, he couldn’t figure out how Molon had disappeared with the body.

“Did Molon not say anything to you?” Eugene asked.

“He said nothing, Hamel.
He just looked at me for a moment before you came back,” answered Anise.

“How did Molon disappear?” asked Eugene.

“Suddenly.
Just like magic.
I don’t know exactly how, and although I said… he disappeared in the blink of an eye, I didn’t actually close my eyes, just that he disappeared that quickly and suddenly.
He disappeared in the snowstorm as if… he had never been there, to begin with,” replied Anise.

“There’s only one explanation I can infer from what you’re saying and the traces here,” said Eugene.

“A barrier,” said Anise, nodding.

It was likely that the cliff itself straddled a boundary as a barrier.
Molon and the Nur’s body had been on a different cliff that paralleled this one.
For barriers like these, there was bound to be a totem that powered it.
However, no matter how he tried, Eugene could not see through the barrier, even with Akasha, and he couldn’t blindly search for the totem, not knowing what lay beyond the cliff and the barrier.

“Let’s go down,” Eugene said with a deep frown.
“That’s what Molon said.
To go back.”

“And since when were you so obedient to what Molon said?” asked Anise.

“Molon is older than me,” replied Eugene.

“He was also older than you three hundred years ago,” countered Anise.

“At that time, Molon was older than me by only three or four years,” said Eugene.

“Five years,” Anise corrected.

“In those days, a difference of five years was nothing.
We were all just friends anyways.
If we’re talking about specifics, Anise, you were two years older than me,” said Eugene.

“Three years,” she corrected once more.

“At that time, we were all equal regardless of our ages and when we were born.
But it’s been three hundred years, and that bastard Molon had aged by three hundred years.
I’m sure he didn’t tell me to get lost just because he doesn’t like me, so let’s go back down and figure things out,” said Eugene.

“How cute,” commented Anise.

“What?”

“Regardless of your reason, you’re showing respect for Molon’s will.
Hamel, are you afraid of being pushed back by Molon again while stubbornly searching this place…?” asked Anise.

“Stop saying weird things.
Molon is alive, and I’m sure he has his reasons.”

“That’s what we call respect,” sniggered Anise before turning away.
She jumped down from the cliff, thinking that Hamel looked incredibly cute with his shy face, mumbling like an idiot.

“Ah.” It wasn’t until she reached the ground that she belatedly came to a realization.
She could have asked him to help her down, saying it was too high.
If she had, she could have made him carry her like a princess once more…!

Anise hurriedly turned her eyes upward with regret.
Eugene was looking down at her with narrowed eyes and an absurd expression.

“Ehem.” Anise cleared her throat while soothing her disappointment.

Abel was waiting for them with droopy ears when they returned to the tent.
The ominous feeling similar to the Demon King of Destruction had disappeared with the death of the Nur, or the unknown monster.
Thanks to that, Abel didn’t appear as scared as before.

A little while later, Mer gently poked her head out of Eugene’s cloak, and Kristina also came to her senses.

Kristina felt ashamed of herself for fainting without managing to put up any resistance and blamed herself.

[It’s only natural for you to have fainted, Kristina.
After all, you’ve never experienced anything like that before, right?] Anise consoled her.

Eugene did the same.
“We almost fainted three hundred years ago, even though we had been through all sorts of things.”

“But that wasn’t the Demon King of Destruction,” Kristina said, gathering her breath.

“But it was similar.
Don’t let it weigh too heavily on your heart.
It’s like an instinctive fear, something you can’t really resist without experience,” Eugene reassured her as they finished their meal from before.
The porridge had gone cold, so they boiled it again.
The taste was worse than usual.

Two days later, Eugene and Kristina crossed the boundary of Lehainjar and arrived at Lehain’s training grounds.
It was a fortress protected by high walls but shaped like a village attached to a castle.
The knights of the Kingdom of Ruhr mainly used the training grounds, but the people of the Bayar Tribes resided in the village.
The ones who had not left the snowfield had been managing the fortress since it was built while living in the village.

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Most of Lehainjar’s rangers were natives of Bayar who were born in the village, and many young warriors dreamt of someday going to Hamelon, the capital, to become chosen knights of the king.

“It’s big,” mumbled Eugene after entering the fortress.

He wasn’t just referring to the fortress, either.
The native residents of the village were tall and big, just like Molon, the King of Ruhr, and the rangers of the snowy mountain.
Eugene was also quite tall, but he couldn’t see any men in the fortress who were shorter than him.
In any case, the fortress itself was enormous as well.

It was for the Knight March.
As soon as the site of Knight March had been confirmed, the Beast King had ordered for the Lehain’s fortress to be expanded extensively.
Eugene didn’t know exactly how many knights and mercenaries were coming to the Knight March, but the expanded fortress looked big enough to accommodate all visitors.

“The Burning River,” said Eugene.

A hot, steam-breathing river flowed through the outskirts of the village.
Perhaps thanks to it, it didn’t feel very cold despite the snow.

“You are not allowed to enter without washing up and not allowed to enter wearing anything other than a bathing suit,” answered the villager responsible for showing them around.

“I’m not going in.”

“We don’t see many visitors here normally, and many outsiders who are here seem quite mistaken.
This is the end of the northern snowfield, and the natives of Bayar have resided in this place for a long time.
Unfortunately, that means they like to think we are ignorant and barbaric,” continued the villager with a shrug.
Like the other natives, he was tall, an entire head taller than Eugene.

“But we are not as ignorant or barbaric as they think us to be.
The Burning River….
Indeed, it feels great to go in there when it snows, but that doesn’t mean we enter it without first washing up.
If you really want to do something like that, you can use the private hot spring at your own house.
The river belongs to the village, so you shouldn’t make your neighbors uncomfortable.
Everyone here respects the rule,” said the villager.

“Is that so?” said Eugene.

“But the Lionheart clan is a friend of our founder.
Although three hundred long years have passed, the Lionheart clan is still a friend to the Ruhr family.
So, Sir Eugene Lionheart, if you would like to jump into that river right now,” the villager said hesitantly.

“Has someone already jumped in?” asked Eugene.
He felt his heart drop slightly.

“No, they didn’t jump in.
Rather, they walked on the hot spring saying it was amazing, without even removing their shoes,” the villager answered.

“It must have been Lady Carmen,” muttered Eugene.

“How did you know?” the villager asked with surprise.

“Lady Carmen is the only one who enjoys such… eccentric behavior in the Lionheart family.
I apologize on her behalf as a member of the family,” said Eugene.

“We have already heard enough apologies,” the villager answered.

The other members of the Lionheart family had departed a few days ahead of Eugene and had arrived in Lehain earlier.

However, Cyan, Ciel, Dior, and Princess Scalia had yet to arrive.
Eugene felt inwardly worried, but he did not rush to search for them, partially because of what Anise had said to him before.
He couldn’t continue to treat them like they were children.

“The guests from the Lionheart clan are staying at this mansion,” the villager said as they arrived at a large mansion close to the castle.
“It is the mansion with the largest hot spring, except for the castle and the town’s public baths.”

The kings and royal knights of different nations were staying at the castle.
There were still four days until the beginning of the Knight March, but the kings of each country, except Ruhr’s own king, had already arrived.

Aeuryus, the Pope of the Holy Empire.

Straut the Second, the Emperor of the Kiehl Empire.

Alabur, the Sultan of Nahama.

Daindolf, the King of Aroth.

The leaders of the empires and the equivalent nations were present, as well as King Rigos, King of the Flayvour Kingdom and the Director of the Anti-Demon Alliance, and other kings belonging to the alliance.
Most of the continent’s rulers, apart from those of Helmuth, were currently staying in this fortress.

“Well, please enjoy your stay,” the villager said before returning.

Eugene stared up at the castle for a while.
He could already feel a few gazes, gazes belonging to arrogant people who had no desire nor reason to hide their eyes.
Eugene could feel the gazes coming from different heights.
It was quite obvious.
Not all kings stood on equal ground, and empires were superior to kingdoms, while kingdoms could be divided into large and small kingdoms.

He was the second coming of the Great Vermouth.
Even though he wasn’t set to be the next head of the family, he was a young lion of the main family of the Lionheart clan who would surely lead the next generation.

The rulers of royal authority were paying keen attention to Eugene.

“Sir Eugene.”

“I’m not going to be rude.
I’m just looking up, that’s all,” said Eugene with a smirk.
He then turned his head before walking into the mansion with light steps.

“They can look all they want from up there.”