184 – return(2)
Chiron, who finished the short talk, went straight to Hugo.
It wasn’t my intention, but since I had been away from the mansion for almost a year, it was natural to stop by Hugo, the eldest member of the family.
Surprisingly, Hugo was in the training hall rather than the office. Hugo stopped swinging the piece of metal and turned his head towards Siron.
thud!
“It’s been a while.”
Siron did not reply but bowed his head politely. When I saw Hugo for the first time in a year, he had lost weight and looked like his old self.
‘I don’t think I’m the one who became half a person?’
I told him not to worry because he would definitely participate in the next expedition. Hugo was a great man who always kept his promises. There was no trace of his chubby cheeks, and his soft-looking forearms looked hard and heavy, as if they were carved from logs.
“Is this black iron?”
There was something else that looked heavy.
“Yes. I placed a special order at the workshop to help me lose weight.”
Hugo held up the iron ingot with his eyes focused. A lump of metal that looks bigger and bigger than an adult man. Seeing that it was said to be black iron, it was easy to see that it was unusually heavy, but Hugo held it and swung it without a care in the world.
“By the way, the expedition was very long.”
“I’m sorry for causing you worry. I should have sent you letters more often, but it was such a rough terrain.”
“No. What do you have to be sorry about? I also occasionally received news from the field, so I knew roughly how things were going.”
Hugo nervously took off his sweat-soaked clothes.
As the expedition period was long, the amount of documents sent and received from the center was large.
Hugo was also occasionally seen with handouts flowing in, but it made no sense that it would take more than twice as long as the previous expedition, which was supposed to take about 6 months to return, even if Hugo was the main force missing.
“Are there a lot of demonic beasts coming across the Makal Mountains? Or, maybe another problem has arisen in the demonic region… That’s what I thought.”
“…I thought that too.”
“Wasn’t the investigation team formed?”
“On the contrary, they were busy killing demon beasts. There were so many deserters and people who died, so there were unnecessary losses.”
“Hmm… it’s a big deal. A big deal…”
Hugo repeated for a while that it was a big deal.
Even if they wanted to go to the Demonic Realm, there were not many people who could withstand the dense magical energy. Only after selecting the elites of Changcheon and the elites of each knighthood is an investigation team capable of carrying out the mission formed.
‘That was already 10 years ago.’
Hugo, who had been frowning horribly for a while, stared at Shiron.
“So, you came back alone?”
“yes?”
“That kid I always see. A scrawny and cute kid.”
Hugo turned his head to look for Latera. Latera, realizing that he was looking for her, stuck her head out from behind Siron.
“Did you find me?”
“Oh, yes my baby… that…”
“It’s Latera.”
“Yes, latera.”
Hugo started to hug Latera, but stopped. This is because I realized too late that his body was covered in sweat.
Hugo quickly wiped off the sweat, sprayed some deodorant he didn’t know where he got it from, and changed into new clothes.
“I’ve been waiting so long for you to come.”
“Why him?”
“…You’re cute.”
Hugo this time picked up Latera and hugged her. Latera surrendered herself to the large hand without much resistance.
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“really?”
“Okay, so what am I going to do by lying?”
“thank you!”
Latera smiled brightly at the unaffected compliment.
“I missed Hugo so much too.”
“hehehe. Is this really true?”
“Yes! I wanted to eat the snacks Hugo made.”
Siron had obviously brought him a mountain of snacks before he left, but since the expedition was long, Latera was not able to eat snacks for several months.
She felt hungry to some extent, so she ate the rationed oat porridge, but every time Latera desperately missed the snacks that Hugo used to make.
“I also wanted to make cookies for our little angel. I’ve been practicing a lot for the past year.”
Hugo chuckled and stroked Latera’s hair.
Recognition in fields other than swordsmanship and martial arts.
Hugo is a person who is very sensitive to the evaluation of those around him, as he grew up with an inferiority complex towards his younger sibling and did not receive the expectations of those around him.
From the moment he came down to the world after the coming-of-age ceremony, Hugo has been working hard to become a perfect martial artist. Because he grew up without much love, he had the disadvantage of not being good at expressing his emotions, but his outstanding strength more than offset that disadvantage.
What if you can’t talk to other people? With Prien’s lineage, he was able to stand at the top as a silent warrior.
But sometimes the empty part of my heart was so painful. He earned the title of Imperial Sword, a wife like a fox, and a daughter like a rabbit, but the person himself did not change.
Despite achieving achievements that others would envy, Hugo did not fully enjoy that position.
Perhaps because of his surroundings, which encouraged him to remain quiet, Hugo was unable to grow further from the boring old man he was.
You don’t know how sorry Franz felt that everyone else was laughing, and Hugo was the only one who didn’t laugh at the Emperor’s joke.
What was decisive was the existence of other knights who gradually had children.
To be honest, even though the force itself was not good, the junior knights gave birth to rabbit-like children and raised harmonious families.
They gathered together every evening and chatted over a warm meal, and her father read them bedside stories before they went to sleep.
Hugo felt sorry for Siriel and Eldrina.
Although he fulfilled his role as a strong head of the household, he could not be a kind father. The people of the Knights, including John, took on his father’s role.
Siriel was able to have a bright childhood thanks entirely to Hugo’s gift of good fortune.
‘At least once…’
But what left me disappointed was another story.
Hugo was left with the regret of not being able to feed sweets to little Siriel. It was easy to give love to Eldrina first, but the childhood Siriel does not return.
They say I’m gaining weight or something. Perhaps due to puberty, fully grown Siriel does not eat cookies. Even if you learn confectionery and baking late, if there is no one to eat it, you have to learn.
As if the two were trying to get along, Lucia refused to eat the snacks, saying they would interfere with her training.
Even Yohan hates it, saying it is dangerous because of diabetes.
At least, she was thanked when she handed out bundles of snacks to the residents of the mansion, but the girl ate all the snacks right in front of them. Hugo did not feel the satisfaction of feeding Latera snacks.
“This is not the time to idle around swinging iron…”
Hugo came to his senses and gently put down Latera.
“Let’s have a welcome party this evening. Of course, there will be plenty of snacks and cakes that our little angel likes, so be sure to come!”
Hugo held out his little finger toward Latera. Latera smiled brightly, grabbed his thick fingers and shook them.
“I want to eat strawberry and blueberry tart.”
Perhaps the first opportunity in a few months has come? Latera explicitly asked what she wanted to eat.
like that,
Hugo left without even cleaning up the gym. It looks like a sumptuous feast unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before will be served tonight.
Siron, who was worried about how much Siriel and Hugo would abuse the cooks, turned his head to the person who was quietly approaching him.
It wasn’t Lucia. An elf that approaches like a slouch.
“Seira.”
“It’s been a while! Kid. How was your expedition?”
“I was listening to everything, but should I repeat what I said?”
“Hello, Seira!”
“hehehehe. Goodbye to the little boy who remembers me!”
Seeing Seira after a long time seemed strangely energetic. It was different from usual to be outside in broad daylight without using the polymorph spell, and wearing earrings that I had never seen before was also different from a year ago.
“Did anything pleasant happen while I was gone?”
“why?”
“You keep smiling brightly.”
“Do you think so? Anyway, I’m happy!”
Seira smiled brightly and patted Shiron’s back. Siron wrinkled his eyebrows, wondering why he was like this.
‘What the f*ck?’
When Shiron glared at her with a scary gaze, Seira stopped acting petty, as if she had missed it.
“More and more people remember me!”
Shiron’s eyes widened at Seira’s words.
“…Who on earth?”
“With the human who just left. Old Knight, did you say John? He could remember me.”
“Uncle and Knight John? Why? Why do they remember you?”
“I don’t know! I’m researching it, but I’m making no progress!”
Why should I say it so brightly? Seira’s positive energy was so much that it went too far.
Wasn’t it the curse that I had been hanging on for so long? Even though there was no progress, he spoke so brightly that I became like a person seeing Siron’s sad expression.
“Don’t make such a face. I’m satisfied with just that. Isn’t this proof that the curse is disappearing?”
“Is there anything else?”
“It just so happens that I have nothing to do. So, I’ve been wandering around downtown Lien for a few months now… Yeah, there’s nothing there!”
Now he squints one eye and even winks. This is not the attitude of someone who brags about progress without any progress.
“But it’s okay! I live a long time, and it’s been less than half a year since I started investigating. And I’m going to kill the Demon God! I’m going to kill him. Think of it as entertainment for the time being.”
“…Good.”
“That’s right! Now that I think about it, you’ve been telling my story to other people! You cutie. You’re usually such a prickly person, but you take care of me subtly!”
“…okay.”
Siron could not get used to Seira’s attitude at all. Where did Seira, who always had a gloomy expression and an insecure attitude, go? That doesn’t mean I want Seira to return to her old self, the idiot in the corner, it’s just that I felt uncomfortable with Seira constantly fluttering her lips.
However, it was not unusual for Seira to do this. What struck me more than anything was that an ordinary being like John could remember him, rather than a special being like Prien or an angel.
Shiron, who has no way to know about the fact, only makes a puzzled expression.
“…By the way. Did you just say you had plenty of time?”
After rubbing the throbbing back of her neck for a while, Shiron remembered her business with Seira.
“Teach me some magic.”
“…huh?”
Seira paused for a moment at Shiron’s words.
“You weren’t good at using magic, were you?”
“I transplanted a dragon’s heart.”
“Where did that come from…”
“Demodoras.”
Shiron answered briefly.