Chapter 91: 90. Take It All!
1.
So this was why people went on about weapons, sub-weapons, and insignias.
For the record, that meant a weapon, a sub-weapon, and an insignia.
Even though I had only properly fitted her with one of them, the effect was absolutely ridiculous.
On top of that, I had wondered how she was supposed to store and carry the roses around, but there had been no need to worry.
They floated up on their own and trailed behind Yeomhwa.
Drag, drag, drag...
Dolores had Yeomhwa by the scruff of the neck and was dragging her away.
"Lionel! Open your wallet! What do you want?!"
"For now, please let yourself be dragged away."
Billow, billow...
When Dolores opened the barrier, the smoke that had been trapped inside poured out.
"Ugh."
Wave, wave.
I waved my hand, dispersing the smoke.
To be honest, the all-out barrage Yeomhwa had just shown was rather far from the intended purpose behind Rose Bloom Finale.
All I had wanted was a way to reload without using mana.
I had not meant to create bombardment on a five-second interval...
So this was what game developers meant when they kept babbling in patch notes about players using something differently from its intended purpose.
"...Good."
Of course, I had no intention of nerfing it.
Well, if the wearer liked it... why would I?
"...Ah."
Wait a second.
A sudden wave of weakness washed over me.
It was here.
I had kept myself wound tight the entire time, but now that everything was resolved and the tension snapped, the fatigue I had forcibly suppressed began crashing down on me.
That sensation of all the fatigue I had been borrowing finally coming back with interest.
It was coming now.
Thud.
I dropped onto a bench.
I had only intended to catch my breath for a moment, but this fourteen-year-old brat body ignored my wishes and slowly tipped sideways.
My shoulder touched the bench.
Ah, let me sleep just a little.
[You worked hard, big brother.]
Yeah, thanks, Yuna.
"Lionel...?"
"Lionel!"
The last thing I saw through my closing eyelids was Dolores and Yeomhwa running toward me.
Then I closed my eyes in contentment.
2.
Tap, tap.
Ignia’s fingers tapped against the flames.
Her fifteenth round of sorting out her thoughts this season.
She had a concern.
...It had been a very long time since she had bestowed a gift upon the Sun Dwarves.
But before she did, there was one thing that needed to be made clear...
Ignia had never "abandoned" the Sun Dwarves.
From the very beginning, what she loved was a fiercely burning will, diligence that rose again even after exhaustion and collapse.
The effort and obsession a mere mortal poured into surpassing their own limits...
The Sun Dwarves of the past... among them, certain individuals called the Heirs of Fire possessed all of that.
That was why Ignia had readily supported and sponsored them.
However.
If the "Sun Dwarves" believed that meant the goddess had cherished their race and bestowed her favor upon them, then they were deeply mistaken.
After all, the ones Ignia had sponsored were not the Sun Dwarves, but the Heirs of Fire.
She might have helped out of pity for their wish to restore their race, but the object of her favor could never change.
"...Well, would you look at that."
She had felt that distinction the moment the Heirs of Fire disappeared.
At some point, the Sun Dwarves had begun to regard the goddess’s gifts and prosperity... as things they were simply entitled to.
Without knowing what blood, sweat, and tears lay behind them.
Well-fed pigs...
That was how they looked to Ignia.
There was never anything in this world that was simply given to one as a matter of course...
So Ignia had cut off all support.
She thought that once they lost it, they would realize what they had taken for granted...
Then, just as she lay down to sleep, news suddenly reached her.
"A new Heir of Fire has chosen Lady Gaia as the recipient of a divine artifact..."
"What...?"
It felt as though she had been struck hard in the back of the head.
The newly emerged Heir of Fire had fallen asleep in the embrace of the earth.
He had even offered a divine artifact to her.
"D-Did it hurt you that I did not cherish your pathetic race... that I did not look after them...?"
It was unfair...
Slump...
The flames flowing from Ignia’s hand drooped.
B-But I liked the Heirs of Fire from the beginning...
Then, that newly emerged Heir of Fire offered a divine artifact to Gaia and even made incredibly beautiful underwear for Gaia’s child.
Afterward, Ignia could only suck on her fingers from afar as she watched him effortlessly make one beautiful item after another.
What if he had truly gone over to Gaia?
What if he had completely closed his heart to her?
"At this rate, he might even make Gaia’s underwear..."
Before mine...?
Did you know what underwear meant to a god?
To begin with, a god had absolutely no need for clothing.
They were beings who could create anything they wanted and cover their physical forms with it.
For such a god to accept and wear underwear made by a mortal carried an absurd degree of meaning.
It meant entrusting a place permitted to no one else to a mortal’s hands, allowing things cut and tailored by that mortal to wrap around a god’s skin day and night.
Underwear was a token of affection that a god could grant a mortal...
There had never even been a mortal in history capable of making clothes that would drive gods wild...
Even worse, rumors that Gaia had already taken her measurements and was mentally preparing herself drove Ignia mad.
It had already been several months since she had attended the gods’ regular gathering.
If she happened to meet Gaia, that innocent-looking woman would obviously start talking about waists and hips and other things that would turn Ignia’s stomach.
She had been wasting away over such thoughts when...
One day, news suddenly arrived that the Heir of Fire had also made contact with her daughter.
"The roses... are beautiful..."
Ignia grinned foolishly at that equipment for an entire day.
He had not only devised her daughter’s combat style, but her appearance as well...
He had picked out and gathered every last detail that would make gods tremble, all with pinpoint precision.
"How much must he cherish Yeomhwa to do this... hehehe..."
The corners of Ignia’s lips gradually rose.
At this rate, she could boast a little at the next regular gathering.
The Heir of Fire had shown his sincerity toward her first. In that case, she ought to return that sincerity.
"If you cherish that pathetic race of yours..."
Then it would not be difficult to look after them again.
Her thoughts organized.
Fwoooosh!
Flames split from Ignia’s fingertips and fell beneath the Tower.
To the Sun Dwarves, it would be a gift like rain after a long drought, received for the first time in ages.
And one more thing.
"Tell Yeomhwa to come find me first thing when she enters the Tower."
There was something she needed to give her.
That bitch Gaia gave the Heir of Fire a flower, did she not?
"That gloomy, lewd, filthy, conniving bitch."
The meaning of giving him a flower was too embarrassing to even put into words.
Still, it did not matter.
If Gaia intended to win the Heir of Fire’s heart with a flower, then Ignia simply needed to give him something that would make his eyes roll back the instant he saw it.
"...So let’s make up. I’m sorry..."
I’ll treat you well from now on...
That was what she truly felt.
3.
"Ugh."
I pushed myself upright.
I was stiff as hell.
Harngar in my mental world had chewed me out like crazy again.
He nagged me, asking why I had suddenly done something like that when I had been doing so well lately.
I understood.
But when I showed him Rose Bloom Finale, his eyes widened and he applauded.
So he took my recent recklessness into consideration, to some extent.
Whew.
"...?"
When I got up, Dolores was lying beside me.
She was pressed right against me, close enough that I could feel her breath in front of my nose.
Her cool skin was snug against my body.
"You’re awake, Lionel...?"
Mommy’s closed blue eyes opened, and she smiled softly.
"Yes."
Dolores met my eyes and smiled.
Kiss.
Just as Yeomhwa had done, she pressed her lips to my cheek.
Kiss.
Then she pressed her lips to my other cheek.
Flinch.
She hesitated before the third one.
Two are enough, aren’t they?
Hmm...
She seemed to remember what I had said.
"More than two is fine."
"..."
The moment I gave her permission, Dolores’s lips touched my cheek.
"Camilla said it was overwork. She said it was the first time she had ever seen a child collapse from overwork outside of a labor camp..."
"Haha."
Honestly, this might have been harder than forced labor.
But wait.
"...Camilla examined me?"
If that person had examined me, then...
Drip...
Only then did I notice the damp sensation on my forehead.
I looked at the mirror beside me... and there was something resting on my forehead, glowing faintly green.
It was the seaweed Yeomhwa had been wearing.
"..."
Creak...
When I turned my eyes toward the door, a blue-haired woman stood leaning against the frame with her arms crossed, looking down at me.
A woman in white, unmistakably wearing a doctor’s coat...
"Hello, cutie."
"..."
Dolores told me who she was.
"This is Camilla."
So she was the doctor I had heard so much about.
But then...
Sliiide...
Dolores suddenly began scooting away from me.
"..."
Seeing that, Camilla shook her head.
"It was overwork, but your body will probably feel lighter now. Eat plenty of delicious food and do what you need to do."
"Ah... thank you..."
That was an extremely reasonable prescription, and a pleasant one to hear.
Most doctors only ever told me to get lots of rest. This was my first time meeting a doctor who said something so nice.
Then...
Lioneeeel!!
An enormous shout suddenly came from the entrance of the estate.
"...Go on."
"Thank you for treating me..."
"Don’t mention it."
As Camilla stepped aside from the door, I got up and headed toward Yeomhwa.
"Let’s go together, Lionel..."
Dolores rose as well, but...
Click.
The door suddenly closed behind me.
What did you just do?
...
You said you’d protect him, so wha...
The voice suddenly cut off.
"...?"
I did not know what they were talking about, but...
Lionel!!!!!
Someone was urgently calling me from downstairs, so I had no choice but to head down.
Pat pat pat pat...
I went down the stairs, and in the center of the estate...
"W-What is this?!"
There was a pile of gold bars, minerals beside it, and gemstones beside those.
Even at a glance, they were precious, high-quality materials.
The minerals were far better quality than the ones the Imperial Family had given me...?
And those gemstones were rare specimens I had never even seen at an auction house.
I slowly raised my head and looked at the woman standing before me.
What the hell was all this?
"Lionel!"
Standing amid it all, Yeomhwa spread both arms wide.
"Take it... take it all!"
Lionel was rich now.
My eyes rolled back.
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