The Villain Is Destined to Die: But as the Creator, I know All Endings

Chapter 300: What Is This Called Again?

It had been two hours since Leon had left the Blood Tower.

RUMBLE RUMBLE

The carriage he was sitting inside rolled with steady speed, passing the all too familiar Tiara’s central square market.

Peeking outside the window, Leon noticed just how things had changed.

After the Tiara incident, more than half the town was burned to rubble, and over a hundred people had lost their lives.

But looking at it now, the place had been completely renovated.

The markets, the stalls, the people, all roamed so carefree as if nothing had happened in the past.

"Lady Veronica was in charge of the redevelopment of Tiara."

Myra spoke up, sitting in front of him.

Leon turned to her.

"Sister did all of it? You are telling me she stepped out of the tower?"

Myra nodded at once.

Well, Tiara does come under the domain of Valentine Dukedom. It seems she wanted to rebuild the place as soon as possible.

After all, Tiara had been a hotspot for merchants.

Seeing Leon glazing outside with quiet interest, Myra asks the question she had been wanting to ask him.

"Um, Young Master, how was your journey to the Merlin kingdom? My lady had told me that you were on official business with her to meet with the Head of Frost Tower."

Leon never told her his actual goal.

And besides, after spending around two whole decades inside the Evana and reverting back in time, if Leon had to estimate, then for the outside world, Leon, Ethan, and Cyan had only been out for 7 days.

It was rather disturbing in many ways when one thinks about it.

Leon scratched his cheeks and only told Myra the stories about what he did at Karnak City, how he had spent his time with Cyan and others alongside the other people at Frost Tower.

Basically, he was just spouting nonsense.

And by looking at Myra, it seems like she was actually buying it with rather keen interest.

Between the conversation, they have passed the border of Valentine Dukedom, and from here on out, it will take another four hours to reach Eclipse Institute.

Seeing how casually Leon was relaxing, Myra questioned.

"Are you really not going to meet your family?"

Even though he was in the Valentine Dukedom, he never asked Myra to halt at his house to meet with the others.

Leon doesn’t have the meeting to do that. To be fair, even if he visited them, they would just question him more about why he was here and not at the academy.

That’s why he decided not to, even though the carriage he was riding right now belongs to Blood Tower.

Its sigil was engraved on each side of the door, which attracted the eyes of everyone passing by.

For Leon, this much stares are nothing, he was used to getting started by even ten times the size of people outside.

’Haru, when are we stopping to eat something?’

’Hm? Why are you hungry again? You just had your full-course breakfast at my sister’s place.

Clearly, Rumi, as a spirit, doesn’t necessarily need to rely on normal solid foods to survive.

Mana was all she needed, and after consuming the Elven Spirit core that he had taken from the cargo ship of A.R Magitech, Rumi now had mana on par with a white core mage of this era.

’But Haru, you promised you would give me some treats once we are out.’

Rumi reminded him.

’Yeah, but I mean, after we have reached Shinra. Can’t you wait a little?’

’....’

Rumi went silent and did not reply.

The only thing Leon could hear in his head was a quiet sulky.

’Hmph!’

Leon raised an eyebrow internally.

’What was that? Are you seriously pouting because of that?’

What was she, a kid?

Wait....

Now that he thought about it, after meeting the dragon hatchling hiding underneath Evana, who was over two hundred years old in real time but mentally was barely twelve compared to a human life...

Rumi was actually the same.

She was an ancient humanoid spirit.

But spirits did not age the way humans did.

Their mental development depended on how much they interacted with the world.

If Rumi had been bound to a single host who never let her out, then her mind would have stayed at whatever stage she was at when she got attached.

’Say, Rumi.’

’What.’

’Do me a quick calculation. What would be your age according to a human if you ignore the humanoid spirit’s age?’

’Huh? Why so sudden?’

’Nothing. I am just curious.’

To his weird question, Rumi simply said.

’I have no memories after the incident with my previous host. So I do not remember how long I have been living in this world.’

’Right...’

That was a problem.

’I think my sister might have some idea about it. I will ask her.’

’No need for that.’

Rumi shot back instantly.

’Why do you want to know anyway?’

’...Just because.’

He could feel Rumi getting irritated.

Leon almost laughed.

’Relax, relax. I was just joking.’

’Hmph.’

Then Rumi added, with a little extra sharpness in her tone.

’Just so you know. Your girlfriend is more of my host type.’

Leon’s eye twitched.

Well...

She was not wrong.

Irene, after Leon had sent her memories through the time rewind, had been steadily increasing her strength across those decades inside the loops.

She was now a Three-Star White Core mage, and even all of her stats are above S rank, each one of them.

That would seriously put her on par with the top 0.5% of the most powerful humans across the entire world.

If Rumi ever decided to switch hosts, Irene would be a perfectly reasonable choice for her.

The thought of it actually made Leon mildly comfortable.

The carriage rolled on quietly.

Leon turned his face back toward the window.

Outside, the trees lining the road slowly gave way to wider open fields.

The wind moved through them in soft waves, and the sun was beginning to lower toward the horizon.

It was a view that normally would have made Leon relax.

But his mind drifted, almost without his permission, to Irene.

She must be in her office by now, organizing whatever the Kingdom of Evana needed her to handle.

Probably already mapping out their new infrastructure with Doctor Anise, and probably already arguing with Xuo over trivial matters.

She told him that she would visit him soon.

She had said so before he left.

"I will come to Eclipse once everything stabilizes here. Wait for me, okay?"

Leon’s fingers absently brushed the edge of his coat collar, where her last hug had pressed against him right before he was leaving.

The faint smell of her perfume still lingered there.

He let out a small, quiet exhale.

’I still can’t believe this.’

He never had this strange feeling with anyone in his old world.

In all his time as Haru, he had been the kind of person who shut others out before they got close enough to matter.

He had told himself it was because relationships were a distraction, because he had several projects to finish, and love was not something his life had room for.

But now, sitting in a Blood Tower carriage on a road he had never expected to travel, thinking about a girl.

It feels good, though.

What was this called again?

Excitement?

Yeah....

That was the word he was looking for.

It was new.

And it was so much different than what he had felt towards Lumina.

It strangely made him aware of rather small stuff.

The smell of perfume on his coat, the memory of a hand grabbing his sleeve, the sound of a tongue clicking when she was annoyed, and that sweet taste of her lips...

Leon’s eyes lowered, almost without him noticing.

They fell onto the Moonblade resting against the seat beside him.

His fingers slowly brushed against the cold hilt.

Would she understand?

’You have once felt the same way... was it not?’