Zich glanced up and saw Flora standing in front of the window sill. She quickly turned her head and disappeared beyond the window. Zich snorted and turned away. Considering their relationship, her response was natural, but Zich didn’t show any more signs of displeasure than this.
“Let’s break up now.” Zich waved his hands at his disciples.
“Is it over?” Lara had been watching the party begrudgingly from a distance, and she slowly approached them.
“Yeah. Have you also been doing well?”
“Yes. The people at the Count’s residence have been treating us very well, so I didn’t feel any discomfort.” Then, she turned to Hans, Snoc, and Elena. “Did I really have to step out for this meeting, though?”
“You are not my disciple. I don’t know what harsh words I am going to spout out at them and when.” Zich tapped on Hans and Snoc’s shoulders.
“I don’t mind.”
“My caring heart mind, however,” Zich said and Hans and Snoc struggled to control their expressions.
Seeing this, Lara burst out laughing: “Pft! It seems like some people don’t agree with you here,” she said.
“I’m sure there are. Not everyone has the same mindset, but I’m sure that’s not the case for my guys.” Zich then looked at Hans and Snoc and asked, “Right, guys?”
“O-Of course.”
“Y-Yes.”
The two smiled awkwardly, making both Lara and Elena laugh.
“How’s your sword?” Zich then asked, and Lara took out the sword she was carrying and swung it in the air. A clean, silverish light sliced through space with a chilling sound. Then, Lara placed her sword back into her sheath. It was a very simple movement, but Zich understood many things from her movement.
“You’ve improved a lot.”
“Thanks to you.” Lara grinned. After joining Zich’s party, Lara was overjoyed that her skills were improving noticeably.
“Can’t I call myself your disciple at this level?”
“I only helped you slightly until now. You aren’t my disciple yet.”
Zich met her eyes and then asked, “Why? Do you want to officially learn under me?”
“Um, I have been wanting to do that more and more these days. I also don’t want to be left out just like before too.” Lara had seriously taken to heart that the party met without her only.
“Tell me if you want to. Torturin—I mean, training two or three people won’t make much of a difference.”
“…Did you just say torturing?”
“You must have misheard me.”
“…I suddenly lost a lot of my willpower.”
“Kuh! Yeah, think about the matter slowly,” Zich said. Then, Lara walked toward Hans with a complicated expression. Zich looked to his disciples and Lara.
“With this, I’ve seen most of the faces I needed to after returning,’ Zich thought. He didn’t see the Count or Greig, but there was no need for him to see them.
‘There’s only one person left to see then.’ However, this person wasn’t someone he could just pay a visit.
‘When is Lyla going to come out?’
Zich thought he should hang out in front of the ruin’s entrance for a while.
* * *
Fortunately, Zich was able to meet Lyla two days later. Lyla looked tired after coming out of the ruin, but she still looked healthy.
“It’s nice to see your face.” This was the first thing Lyla said when she saw Zich.
Zich smirked. “It seems like you went through quite the trial.”
“I mean, all I have been doing is stroking a weird device inside a basement. It would have been better if I at least had better company, but the person I was with couldn’t have been more awkward to be with.”
“The Princess certainly can’t be good company,” Zich said and pointed outside the ruin. “Should we rest outside a bit?”
“No, I’m fine. I can soak in the sunlight as much as I want after this matter is over. I have to do important things right now.” Lyla glanced at the sunlight shining from outside a bit regretfully but she soon turned her back from it. Zich also didn’t insist anymore since he respected Lyla’s decision. Then, while walking side by side, they entered the ruin again. The ruin’s door closed automatically and blocked their connection from outside.
“What happened in the meeting you attended?” Lyla asked.
“Karuwimans decided to take a neutral position.”
“That’s good. I’m sure Glen Zenard must have tried to come up with all sorts of tricks to involve the Karuwimans.”
“He did and brought Halton Byner.”
“Halton Byner?”
“I’m sure I told you before that there was a guy who tried to provoke me with Hans right after I regressed.”
“Ah, that must be the knight you crushed in a duel afterward.” Lyla remembered clicking her tongue when hearing that there was an unfortunate knight who provoked a fight with Zich when his character was closest to his Demon Lord days.
“That guy stuck with Glen this time.”
“I don’t think we heard his name in Serpina’s explanation,” Lyla recalled how Serpina had given Zich information about the upcoming war looking as if she had been out of her whole fortune. Lyla was sure that Serpina didn’t mention Byner’s name then.
“Did she purposefully omit that information?” Lyla asked. It was possible since Serpina was basically forced to spill this information.
Zich disagreed. “I think it’s a changed variable that was caused by my actions. I’m sure that until this timeline, I never made a whole mess inside the Count’s residence before leaving.”
“Glen Zenard must have used that change.”
“To no effect though.” Zich smirked, thinking how much both Glen and Byner must have been enraged at their failure.
“By the way, you said you requested for support forces. What happened to that?” Lyla asked.
“Yes, I did. All the people I requested for help came.”
Lyla’s eyes turned wide. “Really? People like Leona and Walwiss came too?”
“Yeah.” Zich explained how all the people who received his requests brought their reinforcements and were gathered together in the Steelwall Estate. He also added that Joachim and Evelyn’s family sent supplies.
Lyla keenly listened to all of his words. “That’s amazing.”
“Yeah, it is. I just sent the letters thinking that I wouldn’t lose anything even if I was rejected, but I didn’t expect everyone to come.” It was especially surprising since it was no ordinary request but a request for support in a war.
“I assume you must feel proud?”
“Well, I can’t say I’m not.” Zich slightly turned his head away as if he was a bit embarrassed.
Lyla chuckled and said, “You’re getting repaid for your kind acts. Regardless of the reasons why you did those kind acts, those people definitely received a lot of help from you. Even if you talk about acting as a hero, I guess I can’t even joke or make fun of you anymore. No matter what other people say, you’re definitely walking the path of a hero who helps others.” Then, she made a playful expression and said, “Who knows? You might be able to compete with Zich Brave now.”
“Please don’t mention that name in front of me.”
Lyla laughed again as Zich shook his head.
“Damn it. Now that you mentioned Brave, I want to talk about how frightening it is to see Walwiss, Leona, and Til.”
Lyla stopped laughing and blinked.
“Walwiss used to act serious and dignified in the magical tower but I don’t know if it’s because he threw away his position as the master of the magical tower or not, but he became a totally easygoing and cunning old grandpa. Just this fact is enough to make my stomach feel queasy, but he’s now even bickering with Leona more and more. Til’s the same too. He replied earnestly to all my questions in the past so I didn’t think that he had any trouble conversing with other people, but in private settings, he hardly talks.”
“Hmm, so your main complaint is that the appearance of Zich Brave’s companions that you saw in your dreams are turning into reality?” Lyla immediately caught the meaning behind Zich’s words. However, this wasn’t difficult as Zich mostly showed such a horrified reaction when it was a matter related to Zich Brave.
“Yeah.” Zich let out a deep sigh.
Lyla thought, ‘Isn't it about time for him to stop hating Zich Brave so much?’ It made sense that Zich hated Zich Brave, the polar opposite of him, in the beginning when his Demon Lord memories and attitudes were still fresh. However, regardless of the reason, Zich was currently walking the path of a hero. Even though their personalities were different, the path that Zich was walking was not very different from Zich Brave’s. So why did he still hate Zich Brave so much?
‘Well, everyone has different tastes.’ Lyla accepted Zich’s complaints with the same manner that Zich had towards people’s personal preferences. “Other than that, did anything special happen?”
“Walwiss has been keeping an intense eye on Snoc.”
“Is it because of Elena?”
“That’s the only possible reason since the person who’s closest to Elena is him.”
Even though Lyla was also very close to Elena, there was naturally a slight boundary between them since they were master and disciples.
“He was looking at Snoc as if Snoc was a thief trying to steal his precious granddaughter.”
“Snoc’s going to suffer a lot.”
“If a country bumpkin who used to work at a mine wants to date a lady from a prestigious family in the magical tower, he should at least expect to endure that much.”
Of course, Walwiss was the strongest magician in Sunewick, so he was no ordinary obstacle. Like this, Zich finished relaying everything that happened on his side and asked Lyla, “What about you? How is it going with learning how to control the device system?”
“It’s not very hard. With just a little bit more time, I’ll fully be able to control the energy route.” Of course, even though she said it wasn’t hard, it was probably extremely difficult for a normal person. Only Lyla could say this since she was an extraordinary genius.
Then, she added, “But Serpina is suspiciously quiet. If it’s as you said before, there’s a high possibility that she’s plotting something.”
“Is that so?” Compared to how seriously Lyla said her words, Zich’s reply was relaxed. “I told you this before, but I’ll leave that matter up to you. Only you can probably figure out what she’s plotting. Most of all, I trust you.”
No other words could make Lyla happier. She laughed and nodded. “Don’t worry!”
Like this, the two continued conversing and went inside the ruin.
* * *
“It’s you.” Serpina immediately frowned when she saw Zich.
“Hey, how can you immediately frown after seeing a person’s face?”
“Think back about your past actions.”
“The past? I can only recall making a fair trade that successfully fulfilled both of our wishes.”
“If you had existed when Clowon existed, I would have done one of these two things—ripped off your sly tongue and thrown it to the ground or forced you to use it for the empire.” Serpina cursed Zich, but her words showed how much she respected his skills.
Zich shrugged. “I have no intention to have my tongue pulled out or stay in one place. Most of all, Clowon fell into ruins and disappeared. Once upon a time...”
Serpina loudly laughed and turned her body. “What are you doing, Lyla?! Immediately stand in front of the device!” It seemed as if Serpina realized that talking with Zich only resulted in losses, so she turned her focus back to Lyla.
“What a great master. It’s amazing how motivated you are to teach your disciple one more lesson.”
Serpina listened to Zich’s mockery with one ear and let it flow out the other as she walked towards the device. Lyla put her hand on the device and allowed her mana to flow into it, and Serpina stood next to her and watched her work. Zich did not taunt Serpina anymore and quietly watched Lyla at work.
A few more days passed by—soon, the rain stopped and the war began.