Her voice was just as Zich remembered it—a cheery and bright voice that filled up the room. Leona made a wide, crease-free smile.
“It’s been a while.” Zich got up from his seat and greeted her. To think that he would be having such a bright reunion without someone who had accompanied Glen Zenard to kill him—the change in relations that the regression brought gave Zich a never-ending sense of amusement.
‘Yeah, it’s unusual that I’m meeting her as a friend.’ Although Leona had been his companion during the days when he was Zich Brave, Zich desperately waved that memory away.
“How have things been?” Leona asked after sitting in the seat facing Zich. He also sat back down again.
“It’s the same as usual.”
“I suppose that means things aren’t peaceful around here.”
“Is that what it means?” Zich smirked and asked for tea from the servant who had guided Leona to this place.
“If I think about what happened while I was traveling with you, certainly. How many incidents did we go through in that short time?” Leona began to count. “You fought Midas as soon as we met, and then we fought that meat-clump-looking monster in a lab. We even went to a cemetery belonging to the ancient empire’s emperors after that and went through a war in my hometown.”
Leona shook her head. “Now, there’s a war in your hometown. It would be ridiculous of me to think you would have had safe travels after I left.”
“Two of those things happened because of you though.” They had gotten involved with Midas because they were trying to retrieve the Lake’s Tear that Leona had lost, and one of the participants of the war in the Great Adrowon Forest was Leona’s own clan.
“That’s why I came running here when I received your letter.”
“I’m grateful for that.”
“That’s right.” Leona puffed up her chest pridefully. It was then that they heard another knock on the door.
“Come in.” The door opened at Zich’s answer. Two people were standing outside the door: an old man with a cane and a giant.
“You already had a guest,” the old man, Walwiss, said while walking into the room. His eyes turned to Leona. On the other hand, the giant, Til, remained outside and surveyed the room from there.
“Is there something important going on?” Zich asked Til.
“No, we just came to give our greetings, but it seems like someone was here first.”
“If that’s the case, you can just come in. Others have also come to just give their greetings.”
“See, I told you it was going to be fine,” Walwiss said calmly and sat in front of the table Leona and Zich were sitting around. She brazenly said, “We are going to be companions fighting together. It will be good for us to get to know each other, especially since we have all come here in response to Zich’s call.”
“Yeah, we are all friends of Zich!” After Leona said this, Til knew it would’ve been strange for him to return to his room and quietly sit in one of the seats.
Zich stared at the people sitting in front of him. They were all formidable figures: Leona—the princess of the elven Lake Tribe and one of the members of the hero party who defeated Zich before the regression; Walwiss Dwayne—the ex-head of the magical tower and a Demon Lord who was feared like Zich before the regression; Til—the captain of the Wolf’s Canine mercenary group and another Demon Lord before the regression.
“Have you been well, master of the magical tower?” After greeting Leona, Zich greeted Walwiss among the two others.
“I have been well, and I’m no longer the master of the magical tower. I passed on the title to someone else.” It was only expected that Walwiss would step down from his seat as the head after his son, Orland, tried to raise a rebellion in the magical tower. He had only maintained his seat for a short period of time until the chaos died down, and it seemed he had completely stepped down now.
“Fortunately, you don’t look so saddened by it.”
“Yes, I feel refreshed really. It was because I was so obsessed with authority and pride that things led up to that in the first place. They all seem meaningless to me now.” Orland’s rebellion had caused a significant change in Walwiss’ mind and heart, and Walwiss now appeared like a man who had let down a heavy burden from his shoulders.
“…I’m glad to see that you are better.” Zich actually meant it. Whatever their relationship was before the regression, they were collaborators now, and Walwiss had come running to his aid this time. He did feel taken aback to see Walwiss look so easy going when he had looked so serious and solemn as the master of the magical tower before. Zich now saw a bit of Walwiss from his dreams as Zich Brave’s companion in the current Walwiss.
“Did you meet Elena yet?”
“I did. She improved a lot—so much that it’s an understatement. Who would guess that she had freed her mana not so long ago?” Elena had displayed her skills to her grandpa after not seeing him for some time. Walwiss' eyes shone as he talked about his granddaughter with pride.
“It really was the best choice to leave Elena to you guys.”
“I’m glad you are satisfied. Lyla cared for her a lot.”
“I must really repay her later.”
After having a simple conversation with Walwiss, Zich turned to Til quietly sitting in his seat.
“How have you been, Til? Although I doubt much happened.” In comparison to his time with Leona and Walwiss, it hadn’t been long since they separated and Zich didn’t think something would’ve happened in that short period of time.
“Like you said, not much happened. The only memorable thing that happened was that we reorganized our mercenary group again.”
“Now that I think about it, you told me that was your immediate plan. How has that been going so far?”
“I won’t say it’s perfect, but I think we’ve recovered some of our original structure and mindset.”
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you.” Til slightly smiled.
“How are Walter and Ellie doing?”
“They’re doing well. Ellie still got sad sometimes, but considering that she easily smiled after, I think she’s getting better.” Fortunately, it seemed as if Ellie was successfully overcoming her father’s death. Til continued, “Thanks to your generosity, they’re both staying at the Count’s mansion right now. I want to express my gratitude for that.”
“It was nothing. To hire the Wolf’s Canine, this much of a favor is nothing.”
While Zich was making light conversations with everyone and catching up on how they had been doing, he heard another knocking sound. “Come in.”
It was the servant who he had requested to bring tea. Even though Leona was the only guest in his room when Zich asked for tea, the servant prepared four cups of tea. It seemed as if the servant noticed that Walwiss and Til were coming to see Zich and meticulously prepared four teacups. Soon after, a steaming cup of tea was placed in front of everyone.
Zich took a sip from the cup and looked at all three of them who accepted his request and readily moved their feet toward an upcoming war. “Now that I think about it, there’s something I need to say first.” Zich lowered his head and said, “I give you all my sincere thanks for accepting my request.”
Leona, Walwiss, and Til shook their heads. Leona said, “As I told you before, Zich, you took our side and fought with the Iron Tribe together. I should repay the favor. The other elves also easily agreed.”
Walwiss said, “If it weren’t for you, I would have been chased out of the magical tower without even knowing why. And I would have lost everything. Compared to that, helping you out like this is nothing.”
Then, Til finally said, “We are mercenaries. It’s only natural for us to receive money and work for our employers. We just merely selected Count Steelwall as our employer this time. Mr. Zich, compared to what you’ve done for us, selecting a specific employer to work under is really nothing.”
Before his regression, Zich’s relationship with the three of them was so bad that Til, who was his enemy, still had the best relationship with him. However, they were all now saying that they were greatly indebted to Zich and wanted to repay him.
‘Is this the repayment I get for doing kind acts?’ It wasn’t bad; Zich sincerely thought this in his mind. “Thank you for saying that.” Zich said his thanks again and continued with a slightly serious voice, “Originally, our forces would have been greatly lacking in numbers and strength compared to our enemies in this war. However, with all of you here, that’s no longer true.”
Even though the forces that they brought to Steelwall were not too great in number, the quality and strength of their forces were hard to find in any country.
“However, our opponent should not be looked upon lightly either.” Zich was sure that Glen Zenard and his lackeys would be among their enemies.
“You’re right.” Walwiss continued, “Before I received your letter, there was a rumor going around the magical tower—the Conrad School of Magic is heading towards the Flaud Estate for an upcoming war.”
The Conrad School of Magic was the school that Orland Dwayne and Jaewick were part of. Considering that they were the core perpetrators of the magical tower’s coup d’état, it was also the school that had taken the greatest amount of damage after their failed coup d’état.
Walwiss added, “It seems as if they’re trying to restore their lost honor that fell after the coup d’état.”
Til asked with a serious expression, “Then, are you saying that our opponent also has mages on their side?” Mages were extremely dependable to have as an ally, but they were equally as frightening as an enemy.
“Yeah, but you don’t have to worry since we’ll be dealing with them.” Walwiss quenched his parched throat with tea and said with a clear voice, “I can guarantee that my disciples’ skills are top-tier even in the magical tower. I’ll also be participating in this war. Even though I’ve retired as the master, my skills are not rusty yet.” Walwiss had been nonchalantly talking, and there was suddenly a sharp glint in his eyes. His personality had become softer, but his fangs and claws were still sharp.
Zich asked, “Will you be all right? They’re still mages affiliated with the magical tower.”
Walwiss shrugged. “Even though I won’t say this happens often, it’s not like something like this never happens. Also, even though mages are gathered together in the magical tower, we’re not the type to become friendly with other people. This is even more true between different schools. Moreover, you must also know very well how tense the relationship between my school and the Conrad School of Magic is. Even though we’re not at the point where we’re trying to kill each other with burning hatred in our eyes, it’s also not good enough for us to feel useless emotions when facing them as our enemies. So you have no reason to worry.”
“I understand.” Since Walwiss made his thoughts so clear, there was no need to dive into this matter any further. Zich accepted Walwiss’ explanation. Then, he said, “If our opponent also has mages, this war might get a bit harder. However, this doesn’t mean that we’ll lose. To tell you the truth, I never thought that we’d lose this war. I had this mindset even before all of you came here. Now that all of you have come, I’m only more certain that we won’t ever lose. Instead, I’m most interested in right now thinking about how much and how I should crush those bastards.”
Leona, Walwiss, and Til held in their bitter smiles. Even though they felt grateful towards Zich, they knew that he didn’t have a good personality.
Zich continued nonchalantly, “So, let’s go with good spirits since that won’t even be a challenge for us.” Then, Zich raised his teacup as if it was a wine glass.
“For our victory.”
Leona, Walwiss, and Til raised their teacups and clinked their cups with Zich’s glass.