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Great Ancient Mage, Found the secret’s fragment (3)
Lian woke up as it was mealtime, gaining all the attention and love from everyone.
“This is good!”
“Eat a lot, my baby.”
“He isn’t yours.”
“Lian, eating just bread will make you choke. I’ll give you some cold tea. Here, give me your cup.”
Maybell and Mirole, who were at the age of liking the children the most among all the people gathered, did their best in taking care of the boy more than his mother, Aria. And their look towards Evan sometimes felt like they were saying, “We love children this much,” and, “We are good at looking after children.”
“Did you eat too, Hyung?”
“Yup, but I ate enough. Eat a lot, Lian.”
“Okie!”
Mirole and Maybell were taking good care of him at his side, but he seemed to be more interested in Evan. Evan had the highest charm among the people gathered, so that was something expected. Children were honest by nature. They choose people depending on their looks without any bad intentions. It was an instinct that all living creatures had from birth.
“I don’t get it…I’m the Succubus Queen, and I even have a unique skill that helps in infant care…!”
“Why does a succubus have a skill for infant care?”
“Heeeh, do I really have to spell it out for you?”
Perhaps it was a new ability she learned when she cast the soul bind, which she previously mentioned. It might be a relevant skill for someone weird like her because she promised to have just one family despite being the Succubus Queen.
“Since things turned out like this, I will completely entice Lian for today! Then Master will think about making a child with me!”
“Ma-Maybell! That’s a cheating move! Lian, don’t listen to that, Noona.”
“Yup, can I go to Hyung’s side?”
Maybe Lian was attracted more to Evan because he saw through the dark intentions of Maybell and Mirole. Evan adequately consoled Lian and sent him to Maybell, and then he went to Leo.
“The artifact that the kid has is superb.”
“With the current environment, we can’t even tell you how much we’ve been through from raising him.”
“Yeah, since we are in the Demon Realm.”
Who would dare think of giving birth to a child in the Demon Realm? Average humans would either have their minds broken down, or their bodies were torn apart in this environment. But Leo wasn’t an average human, and Aria wasn’t average either , so their child would also be beyond the average scope from birth. Those two also would have plenty of artifacts to protect the child, too…
“Since it wasn’t the human realm but rather the Demon Realm, our child was strong from birth. It was an unexpected outcome.”
“I felt it, too. He surely is a human, but he is so skilled that he was naturally controlling his miasma like mana…”
“I kinda expected this. Lian will be the center of attention once he goes to the human realm.”
Leo spoke bitterly. Aria spoke cautiously while holding onto his sleeve.
“But we still wanted to have a child. With just us two on this barren land…”
“What else is there to do during our free time? That’s how he was conceived.”
“Oh my, you!”
Their ages must be over 70, yet they behaved like a young couple. Well, that’s how they conceived a child. As Evan looked apathetic at their lovey-dovey conversation, Leo took a glimpse at Mirole and Maybell, then he bluntly asked a question.
“So how did you hook up with the high-elf, Evan?”
“It’s quite dangerous to explain it in detail, so let’s put that as a secret. Ah, come to think about it, Grandpa Leo left Sherden before Mirole arrived.”
“Huh? Are you saying that the high-elf was in Sherden, too?”
“Tell us the details, Evan. I’ve set up a firm barrier.”
The only ancient being in this place, Mirole, was already head over heels for Lian. In the meantime, Evan was able to have a secret conversation with those two with the help of a soundproof barrier Aria made.
“There were a lot of happenings in Sherden during those times…”
The growth of the dungeon knights, the encounter with the witches, Sherden raid by the Demon Army’s Four Heavenly Kings, the start of Yo-Ma Great War 3’s scenario with the appearance of Must Save, subjugation of the Demon King, and how Evan and Maybell were sent back to the ancient time to overcome the World’s Curse with the help of Miraseul’s necklace…while telling them the story, Evan suddenly felt dumbfounded as he realized there were a lot of things he caused.
If those who knew about Evan in the original story heard about this, they might praise him for having a quite vivid dream as an Evan fanatic.
“Well, everything is quite difficult to understand. One thing that surprises us the most is that you didn’t decide to personally defeat the Demon King despite all your doings so far.”
Leo heard Evan’s story that he nurtured the Dungeon Knights and Save’s party just because he didn’t want to personally face the Demon King, and he was just amused by it. Evan pouted like a child at his reaction and replied.
“Defeating the Demon King was a role for another person. Besides…if I directly stepped in, the Demon King wouldn’t have activated the World’s Curse.”
That would deny Evan from traveling to the past, and he wouldn’t have met with Mirole in the past…it was because Evan came to the past that the current world looked like what it was right now.
“I see, so you’ve come to the ancient time…you’ve done a good job, Evan.”
“Ms. Aria…”
Aria hugged Evan tightly. She looked like a young lady in her twenties, but her aura was much like a mother, so she comforted Evan a lot. If Maybell and Mirole weren’t busy feeding Lian, they might have made a fuss out of it, though.
“We will help you from now on.”
“Yeah, so take it easy. I’m an expert in overcoming difficulties. Bernard would have been a great help, though.”
“Hey. Evan is more reliable than Bernard.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Leo and Aria smoothly spoke ill of Bernard, who wasn’t here, and that was the proof that they were Bernard’s real friends.
“But you two have to look after Lian. I can’t be a burden to you guys…”
“Putting that aside, we’re in the same shoes as you. So, let’s call this cooperation.”
“Right. We seemed to have traveled to the past from the start, and it takes a lot of effort in establishing a contact channel from the Demon Realm to Middle Earth.”
“It was always like this when we traveled through time and space.”
‘Come to think about it, Bernard once mentioned that he had received a message from Leo and Aria after they traveled to the Demon Realm.’
It must have been a hard task for Aria, a priestess of the Space god, to contact whom she wanted by overcoming the barrier of time. But…
“Ms. Aria, umm…”
“Shall I try?”
“…Is it possible?”
It didn’t matter if the communication was just one-sided. He just wanted to say that he was well and he missed them a lot. He would be satisfied with just that for now.
“If you help, it might be possible. The power you have, it might amplify the holy power of the Space god that I have.”
“Isn’t that like blasphemy?”
“It’s all right. I haven’t been able to reach the Space god ever since we arrived in the Demon Realm.”
That meant what she said was blasphemy, after all. Evan was in doubt, but he drew out his mana with her guide. Aria looked happy with what she was looking at.
“Wow! This might work. Your mana alone is already in the tier of a god, so you should hurry and think of your divine name from now on.”
“Is becoming a god that easy?”
“It isn’t easy to become as strong as you, Evan.”
Aria put aside the in-depth conversation about divinity later, and she started to get serious as she activated her holy magic. Evan’s Annihilation was absorbed by her semi-transparent magic circle. It was quite some time since Evan drew out his full power. Aria looked shocked.
“With this amount, I can definitely break through the barrier!”
“Aria, who are we calling first?”
“Ah, the path is still set to Bernard since I’ve drawn out the magic circle that I used when I contacted Bernard before.”
Was her magic structure something similar to a smartphone? Aria started adjusting her magic in a hurry while Evan was lost in the thought. Then she suddenly stopped.
“What is it?”
“Huh, it’s…umm? The entire mana of the magic circle just got sent away.”
“Is the magic unstable since it’s breaking through the barrier of time and space?”
“Ms. Aria? I can supply mana.”
Aria was touching the magic circle while looking annoyed, then she nodded out of disappointment.
“Two-way communication won’t be happening due to too many unstable factors, but I can manage to send the message from here to there. Would that do, Evan?”
“That’s enough. Thank you, Ms. Aria.”
Evan carefully picked the messages he wanted to say to his precious people and delivered them. To his family, lovers, and executives of the Knighthood. Of course, to Bernard, too. Tears seemed to drop, but he held it back. Aria erased the magic circle after completing the job as if she read his mind.
“How about Grandpa Leo and you, Ms. Aria?”
“We just need to send a message to Bernard. So, we added our words after yours.”
“I will need to do more research on this magic. If we’re lucky, this might be able to send us back to our original time.”
The ability of Aria alone, the priestess of the Space god, wouldn’t do. The same went for Evan’s Annihilation, but Aria believed that the combination of the two could make a miracle happen.
“Come to think about it, Grandpa Leo.”
“Huh? What is it? Wanna duel? Sure!”
Leo spoke brightly even after witnessing Evan’s overwhelming power. Aria narrowed her eyes and spoke even before Evan got the chance to reply.
“I don’t want to become a widow, so quit it, Leo.”
“Evan won’t kill me, will he?”
“One mistake and you’re made for, right?”
“You underestimate your husband too much!”
“No, I don’t want any duel in the first place.”
Evan spoke after smiling bitterly.
“I recalled the time when you previously established a contact. Grandpa Bernard was certain of his message to you guys. About acquiring the Hell Ruby.”
“…”
“Ah…that one.”
Hell Ruby. The pure solid ingredient of miasma that was told to be only acquirable in the Demon Realm was also the last ingredient needed to create the Elixir, the legendary potion which Bernard and Evan wanted to make in order to witness the ultimate alchemy.
“Did you find it?”
“Umm…”
“Hahaha.”
Leo laughed loudly.
“In fact, we found its location.”
“There were too many demons around it. The Hell Ruby is considered to be a treasure even for the demons.”
Well, that was expected.
“It was in a giant tower. It was a black tower that reached the sky, and the black dragon that protects the wall didn’t look that easy to take care of.”
“Then that’s our next destination.”
‘Tower! Dragon!’
Evan was very excited at the DLC that didn’t exist in Yo-Ma Great War Zero, nor in any of its series. Leo and Aria shrugged as if they knew Evan would be happy about them. The members decided to spend the night there and start traveling early in the morning.
Once again, Mirole borrowed the strength of the spirits today.