Chapter 90: The Boy of Monstrous Strength

That night, Olivia could not rest easy about the little mouse, so she quietly climbed into Leo’s bed as well.

The two of them lay on their sides, watching the little mouse sleep between them.

In her sleep, the little mouse seemed trapped in some dreadful dream; now and then her breathing would quicken, and her body would shiver faintly.

Olivia gently stroked her, soothing her expression a little, and whispered to Leo, “How can such a tiny thing be a princess?”

Leo laughed at that. “Do princesses have to be huge?”

The princess Olivia imagined was modeled after the little widow Agatha, only dressed in even more lavish finery.

And like an angel, she would shine with a holy light upon her face, noble and graceful, sacred and untouchable.

She was only a country girl who had never even seen a proper noble; how could she possibly imagine what a princess looked like?

In her mind, luxury meant clothes without patches, and nobility meant never having to do farm work.

In all of Riverbend, only the little widow and she could barely be said to meet those two standards.

Besides, the little widow had a few silver ornaments from her dowry, and when the sisters gathered together now and then, she would secretly take them out and wear them. That was already the entirety of what a country girl understood about wealth and splendor.

But the impression the little mouse had left on her was still that of the starving waif from before: all skin and bones, eyes sunken deep, a little beggar who had edged up to her for a scrap of bread and stared at her with those pitiful, wide eyes, pleading wordlessly.

“If she really is a princess, then what do we do?”

“If she is, we send her home. If she isn’t, all the better—then I’ll raise her like one!”

Olivia wrinkled her little nose, suddenly jealous. “Hmph, you really are too kind!”

“You’re my princess too,” Leo said, and his hands immediately grew impudent.

“Quit it!” Olivia laughed brightly and caught his hand, pressing it onto the little mouse’s belly. The three of them huddled together like that and fell into a deep sleep.

Though still not yet adults, the boy and girl, because of the little mouse, had somehow ended up living like an old married couple.

In his dream, Leo saw a strangely shaped alchemical airship, trailing thick smoke from its stern as it spun and plunged from the sky.

A violent explosion, a spreading inferno, and endless darkness.

Shrieks and cries for help rose in layer upon layer.

The little mouse, drenched in blood, stood dazed before the fire. A giant griffin rolled and struggled within the flames, while several human torches staggered off in all directions.

A few fully armed female knights shielded the little mouse, holding back the surging black-clad assailants.

One badly wounded female knight suddenly turned back; blood streamed from her hollow eye sockets as she shouted at the little mouse, “Run!”

A wave of fierce terror surged through Leo’s heart, and he awoke with a start.

It might have been the little mouse’s dream.

Ever since he had been struck by the sword intent of the Sword Saint, Leo’s spiritual strength had grown stronger and sharper by the day.

Looking at the poor little mouse, her brows tightly furrowed in sleep, Leo let out a sigh.

He had long sensed that she had suffered some kind of emotional trauma. Though she was clearly a clever and lively girl, she often acted dull, timid, and withdrawn.

Like a walking corpse, she seemed to possess only the instinct to survive, with no thought beyond staying alive.

By the time he woke again, dawn had already broken bright. The little mouse was kneeling on the bed, staring at Leo without blinking.

Leo teased her, “Good morning, Your Highness! Should I kneel for you first?”

The little mouse, offended, let out a yelp, pounced onto Leo, and bit his arm. Then she wiped away the drool she had left there with her sleeve.

Leo sprang up at once and, as always, tucked the little mouse under his arm.

Olivia, who had already been up for some time, saw him wandering about with the little mouse clamped under his arm like a doll, and said in annoyance, “Put her down!”

After all, not everyone was as unruly as Leo. Once Olivia had begun to suspect that the little mouse might really be a princess, her attitude toward her had become somewhat restrained.

“Oh...” Leo, displeased, set down the equally displeased little mouse. The two stood there with their heads lowered, as if they had done something wrong.

As soon as Olivia turned away, Leo exchanged a glance with the little mouse, reached out, and tucked her under his arm again before heading out in high spirits.

The adventuring party had already packed up, led their warhorses back from the stable, and were preparing to depart.

Denise caught the little mouse again and quietly asked her a few more questions, but when the other girl’s face began to look frightened, she finally gave it up.

“Well then, we’re off.” Denise bade farewell to Leo, her mind elsewhere.

Leo escorted them to the canal south of Riverbend before waving and saying, “Take care on the road, everyone! Come back to play next time!”

“Next time you come to the Wolf Plain to adventure, I’ll give you an eighty percent discount!”

The ranger, Linch, mounted on his warhorse, could not help glancing back at Leo, then lowered his head again.

To him, Denise’s low spirits and troubled mood seemed to come from parting with Leo.

After all, during this time together, Denise and Leo had spoken with great ease and warmth.

This country boy, whom he had originally assumed to be crude, ignorant, reckless, and hot-blooded, had turned out to be unexpectedly mature in mind and quick-witted.

More than that, he was full of mystery. Without him, none of them would even have been able to enter the Inner Courtyard.

Yet he, the first among Leo’s admirers, had not managed to strike up even a single conversation with Denise.

The young ranger, newly arrived in the life of adventure, felt that there was still much he had to learn.

Once the adventuring party had been sent off, Riverbend returned to its quiet. Leo went back to tinkering with his little inventions and gathering materials that others considered useless.

In his spare time, he practiced his swordsmanship with all his might. Some of the memories contained within the sword intent of the Sword Saint gave Leo an inexplicable wealth of insight.

It was like a wave of ultrasonic sound being forced into his brain; had it not been for Master Bobak’s protection, Leo’s brains would likely have been shaken to pieces.

But once he endured it, the things hidden within could be deciphered little by little, and even the smallest fragment brought him immense benefit.

Even his drunken sword style for slaying orcs was not truly drunken swordplay. It was simply that his physical condition was not yet up to standard, and he could not fully master that sword technique.

It took a full week of grueling practice before Leo could barely manage not to stagger and fall while training.

At the same time, his appetite grew even greater; every day he had to eat twice as much as before.

Leo had already been one of the heavyweights among Riverbend’s eating champions, and now he had surged far ahead of the pack, his table manners enough to frighten people.

His strength also increased dramatically, changing almost day by day.

The three-kilogram broad-backed bastard sword had once made his wrist ache after prolonged use.

Now he could swing it one-handed, and it felt no heavier than a sliver of wood.

He had once been known in the village for his brute strength; now he had been promoted to a boy of monstrous might.

One had to understand that with his physical condition already at its peak, he was like a world champion—something not easily improved through ordinary training.

Leo was both delighted and troubled by these changes, but the only person who might have been able to guide him, Master Bobak, had vanished without a trace. As for the rabble of Riverbend, they could offer not the slightest useful advice.

It was not only Leo who was changing. After revealing her identity, the little mouse seemed to let down her guard and became much more lively as well.

Not only did she help Olivia with work more diligently, but after dinner every day she would creep up to Olivia and secretly report all the ridiculous things Leo had done that day.

Before bed, she would also lean close to Leo’s ear and tell him how many supplies Olivia had taken in that day, how much money she had earned, how much had been saved in the little cash box, and what she had talked about with her girlfriends.

Being a double agent was clearly no longer enough to satisfy her needs in life. She even dragged Fisa along to climb the wall, spy on Leo’s inventions, and collaborate in the research.

The two of them would stand on the shoulders of the kobold guards, clinging to the fence and poking their little heads over the top, only to scurry off in embarrassment once Leo spotted them.

It was not until one day, when a thunderous boom echoed from the kobold valley, that Leo learned Fisa had invented black powder!

The End of Volume Two: This City Is So Empty, This Memory So Fierce!

Freyja, calling from afar: Spare some time for love-powered creations!