Chapter 290

290

“What’s this all about… getting to visit the house of the Great Hero?”

Kal spoke in a tense voice.

“S, should we get a gift like that?”

“Guess we should. Is there anything worth buying?”

“We’re flat broke anyway.”

Eiran, Ar, and Lunia also wore tense expressions.

While observing the excited group, Driana said,

“Besides, Lord Kyle isn’t even home, right?”

With that, Driana took a sketchbook from her bosom.

Leo narrowed his eyes.

“What do you intend to use that for?”

“In case there’s a portrait of Kyle-sama in his house—I’d like to try drawing it.”

“Wouldn’t Kyle hate it if you tried to draw something with your hopeless artistic skills?”

“Unlike you, a soul as dry as a desert, Kyle-sama will understand my artistic sensibilities.”

“That won’t happen.”

Leo frowned as he answered.

Watching the group, Depeser smirked.

“You all seem to greatly respect Kyle-sama, don’t you?”

“I respect Lady Luna the most.”

“But Aran-sama is the best, right?”

“No matter what anyone says, Lord Dwenno is truly the greatest hero.”

Lunia, Ar, and Driana spoke in turn.

Then, they glared at each other.

Listening to them, Depeser chuckled softly.

“Many children admire those figures as you do. There’s no way they can be avoided. They have shown the world there’s hope even in this era of despair.”

After Depeser’s words, Eiran cautiously asked,

“Could you share a story about Kyle-sama’s heroic deeds?”

Though the image of Depeser looking intimidating earlier came to mind, Eiran gathered her courage. Her eyes, which loved heroic tales, sparkled already.

In Eiran’s time, Kyle was considered a mysterious Great Hero, and hearing a story about him was a great joy for her.

“Stories of Kyle-sama’s heroics…”

Depeser smirked.

“I particularly like the story where he fought alone against the d*ath Legion led by the Demon King Hel Kaiser. It is, after all, a famous tale.”

“The story of fighting alone against the Demon King’s army… Could you be talking about the Battle of Deriolana?”

Eiran’s eyes widened in surprise as Depeser nodded.

“Yes. That’s correct.”

“Wait… wasn’t the Battle of Deriolana where Lady Luna…” Eiran gasped with surprise.

Her confusion turned into shock as she glanced beside her.

It was Leo who had approached unseen and nudged her in the ribs.

Locking eyes with Leo, Eiran realized her mistake.

In the current era, the Battle of Deriolana was commonly known as a battle where Luna played the starring role. However, it was, in fact, a battle where Kyle fought alone.

Recognizing that mentioning Luna would invite unnecessary suspicion in this context, she quickly corrected herself.

“What is it?”

“Oh, nothing. I just wanted to hear that story again because I like it.”

“Hmph. Well, I’ll tell you the story then.”

In this era, dragons had the task of recounting the great deeds of heroes to the people, often as eyewitnesses to those events.

As Depeser began his story, all party members except Leo focused intently on it.

Lunia, while listening, compared the story with the version of the Battle of Deriolana she knew and cautiously asked,

“You’re telling it as if you witnessed it directly… Did you actually see this battle, Depeser-sama?”

“Yes.”

Depeser’s reply left Lunia gasping in disbelief.

‘This battle was even more incredible than the storybooks described!’

“The moment Lord Kyle obliterated the Skeleton King’s army, he shouted, ‘This is your grave, Demon King!’”

A derisive laugh escaped from Leo as Depeser spoke.

‘I never said that.’

Apparently, when sharing heroic tales with children, Leo and his friends were somewhat embellished in the story for the sake of a “kind lie.”

As Leo smiled wryly in fresh gratitude to Depeser, a somewhat flat, detached voice was heard.

“That’s wrong. He said, ‘Today, I’ll completely finish you off, you mangy b*stard.’”

Everyone who had been focused on Depeser’s story turned their startled eyes.

It turned out that the group had arrived in front of a house made of logs.

In front of what could hardly be called a garden—a bleak barren space—stood an elf girl seated on a chair.

“Well, it seems we’ve arrived without even realizing it.”

Depeser said, prompting Kal to scratch his cheek.

“Is this Kyle-sama’s house? It’s a bit different from what I imagined.”

Looking at the overly ordinary house, Kal turned to the elf girl and asked,

“Then who’s she?”

“She’s Berkiya, Kyle-sama’s disciple.”

“Khhh!”

“Huh?!”

Everyone turned their wide eyes towards the elf girl.

After the end of the Era of Catastrophe, she became the great racial leader who guided the elves.

Witnessing the appearance of this legendary figure beyond imagination, everyone was shocked.

“Depeser-sama, who are these people? Are they the ones who intruded into Spirit’s Domain?”

“Yes, Miss Berkiya. They will be staying temporarily in Lord Kyle’s house.”

Berkiya’s eyes flickered.

“Why stay in Master Kyle’s house? There are plenty of other places available.”

“I don’t know either, but it appears to be Lord Dwenno’s order.”

“Lord Dwenno?”

Unable to disobey Dwenno’s word, Berkiya reluctantly kept silent despite her disapproving expression.

“Well, it’s getting late. Please rest well. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

With a bow, Depeser left.

As just Leo’s group and Berkiya remained,

“Didn’t you have your own place to go to? You may leave.”

Leo said, to which Berkiya replied,

“I need to clean up Master Kyle’s house.”

“Clean?”

‘What is there to clean in this house?’

Confused by Berkiya’s comment, Leo turned toward the entrance with a mix of curiosity and doubt.

‘Home…’

Stepping into the home which hadn’t existed for him in the distant past, Leo felt a strange emotion.

Creak—

Opening the door and stepping into the entry, Leo briefly gazed at the interior resembling a pigsty before turning his gaze toward Berkiya.

“Wow… This is a bit extreme.”

“It seems Lord Kyle wasn’t the type to tidy up.”

“Still, it’s kinda humanizing and surprising, isn’t it?”

Kal whistled with amazement, while Eiran smiled awkwardly.

Lunia smirked.

“Oh my. Master Kyle can be problematic. Making such a mess of his house.”

Berkiya, with her arms crossed, walked into the house with a resigned expression.

“Well, since guests are here, it can’t be helped.”

Placing her hands firmly on her hips, Berkiya said,

“You plan to freeload here, right? Are you going to help clean with us?”

“Yes, I understand, Lady Berkiya.”

Eiran bowed respectfully.

While maintaining a respectful look, Eiran occasionally glanced nervously at Berkiya.

In front of the respected ancestor she admired since childhood, Eiran was more tense now than ever.

Just as Eiran was about to start cleaning,

Leo raised a hand to stop her.

Then, while staring fixedly at Berkiya, Leo called out,

“Hey.”

The whole group gasped at Leo’s audacity.

“Hey, Leo!”

“What kind of rudeness is that!”

“She’s Lady Berkiya! Black Rabbit!”

“Watch your words.”

Kal frantically warned Leo, and Lunia’s eyes widened.

Even Ar and Driana were startled, but Leo continued,

“You messed it up, you clean it.”

“It, it’s all Master Kyle’s doing!”

“Kyle?”

Leo narrowed his eyes and picked up something from among the scattered clothes on the floor.

“Is this something Kyle would wear? This doesn’t match his gender, does it?”

“I, give me that!”

Berkiya lunged at Leo.

Her face turned bright red as she stretched out her hands, embarrassed by the item Leo held.

As Leo quickly threw it, Berkiya rushed to grab it and hid it behind her back.

“And this? Definitely not something Kyle would read? Secret Forest Encounters…”

“Arg! Arg! Arg!”

Berkiya screamed with a beet-red face.

“Should I call Dwenno and Aran? Let them see the state of this house?”

At Leo’s words, Berkiya drooped her ears.

“I’ll clean it.”

Berkiya’s grand plan to have the guests clean up the mess she created herself quickly backfired.

Seeing Berkiya clean with her ears drooping too, the rest of the group, except Kyle, could only gawk in stupefaction.

One of the three greatest heroes in Elven history:

The founder of Star Cloud, Lady Luna, the Comet Wizard Seirun.

And the Fairy Knight Berkiya.

Having witnessed the unbecoming behavior of one of these heroes, Lunia covered her face with both hands and whimpered mournfully,

“My image of Lady Berkiya has been sullied.”

“Wipe.”

Leo said mercilessly.

Then, he glanced at Eiran who seemed somewhat surprised yet somehow had a warm look in her eyes as she observed Berkiya.

“You don’t seem particularly shocked.”

“What do you mean, Ar?”

As Ar wagged her tail curiously, Eiran smiled awkwardly.

“Yes. The image I know is indeed different…but somehow… I think it’s good. It feels kind of familiar.”

“Familiar?”

“Yes.”

“They do resemble each other quite a bit.”

Leo smirked as he crossed his arms.

“Really? In what way?”

With a bright smile, Eiran asked, prompting Leo to say,

“Like turning a room into a pigsty or having strange fantasies.”

Eiran approached Leo in exasperation, trying to cover his mouth.

As she stopped her, Leo glanced at Berkiya.

‘Yeah, I used to make a huge mess here and then leave.’

Musing over those memories, Leo chuckled wryly when suddenly,

“Well… it’s excessively barren. There’s no sense of humanity here.”

As Driana observed the room, Kal replied,

“Considering how messy this is, it doesn’t seem so, right?”

“Isn’t that Lady Berkiya’s doing?”

Driana casually glanced around the furniture.

“There’s only the bare minimum of necessary furniture, everything else is so blandly austere.”

“Now that you mention it, that’s true. It’s not just neat—it’s different.”

As Ar tilted her head, Driana stroked her chin,

“Perhaps Kyle hasn’t put his heart into this space.”

“Why? It’s his own house.”

“… Maybe because he didn’t know when he might d*e, he always kept everything perfectly tidy.”

At Driana’s murmurs, Leo’s face turned grim.

‘Even the kids can sense that, huh?’

Every time Leo left for Guardstron, he always tidied everything up.

Always with the thought that he might never return.

‘I didn’t have anything worthwhile to leave behind.’

As Leo observed the bleak interior,

There were plenty who had left him with so much to carry on and so many things he wanted to do—all of whom had gone ahead of him.

‘Thinking about it, I’m the only one who’s still here alone.’

As Leo let out a wry smile,

“Excuse me… Lady Berkiya, could I help you a bit?”

“Really?”

Lunia carefully asked.

Even though she’d proclaimed herself a troublemaker in Seirrun, Lunia was still an outstanding top student.

No matter what, she couldn’t bear to watch a great racial hero clean alone.

“I… I’ll help too!”

“Are you really going to help?”

As Berkiya perked up her ears in surprise, Eiran beamed.

“Yes!”

As Berkiya stared at Eiran’s innocent smile,

“Don’t help her; she’ll get spoiled.”

Leo’s harsh words made Berkiya scowl.

“What do you know! Are you Kyle-sama or something?”

In response to Berkiya’s words, Leo hit her with a knuckle to the head.

“I’ll tell Aran-sama tomorrow!”

“Tell away.”

Without batting an eye, Leo delivered another blow to Berkiya’s head.

Watching this exchange, Kal was speechless.

“That guy’s really something. How can he treat a historical figure so rudely?”