The Second Strongest Has Returned

Chapter 32

Three Weeks’ Vacation

The train began to rattle violently compared to its initial departure.

It felt as though the train was complaining and grumbling to itself, expressing its displeasure as it headed deeper into the countryside.

“…Uh… hm…?”

At the locomotive’s grating rumble, Leo’s head wobbled, and his eyelids fluttered simultaneously.

When the vibration grew stronger, his slightly trembling eyelids opened wide.

“Did you wake up? Leo?”

“…Yes… yes?”

Leo, who was still half-asleep, looked at Aria with a slightly bewildered expression.

“Oh… I’m sorry. I must have dozed off with my head leaning against something.”

“No, no! It’s fine!! You must be really tired, Leo…!! You can lean and sleep as much as you want in the future!!”

Although her words were kind, Leo couldn’t bring himself to accept them.

As a knight in name, how could he trouble the young lady?

“Which station are we at now? Is it still far?”

“They said it’s Davins Station, so we haven’t reached Doron yet…”

“What? Davins?”

Upon hearing the station’s name, Leo quickly asked again. Aria, a bit flustered by his urgent reaction, responded in a puzzled tone.

“Yes. They said it’s Davins Station… Is something wrong…?”

Once confirmed, Leo hurriedly began gathering his bag and belongings.

“We need to get off quickly!”

“Huh…? Why…”

“If we’re going to Doron, we need to get off at Davins Station. There’s no direct train to Doron at all!”

Doron was the most remote of remote rural areas. If not for the clumsily built houses and buildings, it wouldn’t have been strange to think they were deep within the forest.

[Huh? Why? I’m watching a crucial scene right now.]

Whether it was an important scene or not inside the train was irrelevant. It was a stark reminder of what kind of person the Sage was.

[But the train hasn’t even reached this so-called Doron Station yet?]

Once Leo had resolved the explanation he’d given earlier in less than two seconds, the Sage managed to follow him off the train.

Reflecting on how they had narrowly avoided the train leaving mid-way, after urgently requesting the stationmaster to stop it, Leo still felt a lingering sense of guilt.

“We… barely made it…”

After finally stepping onto the platform, Leo sighed in relief. Had they been any later, they would have had to backtrack over 3 kilometers along the tracks.

[You should’ve checked more carefully.]

<…I’m sorry about that.>

This was something neither Aria nor the Sage could blame him for. Leo was the only one who knew there wasn’t a direct train to Doron.

Could it be that he was really looking for something worth filing a patent or copyright lawsuit over?

[I was just reading a trashy novel. I saw it in another first-class cabin. I’ve seen love triangles and even love squares before, but this was the first time I’d seen a love pentagon that lasted over 300 years…]

<…I don’t even want to hear it.>

Even though Leo had the mental fortitude to endure the Sage’s nonsense, he was utterly weak against messy love stories.

“Then… where do we go now?”

With eyes gleaming with excitement, Aria had a look on her face that suited a girl her age. Well, considering this was her first time seeing such a remote countryside, it was only natural for her to be deeply intrigued.

“We can’t take a carriage. We’ll have to walk directly.”

As Leo explained this, he pointed with his index finger towards the mountains connected by the lush greenery.

“We can’t take a carriage?”

Aria, walking behind Leo and looking around, asked. Although they were in the countryside, Davins Station had more than a dozen carriages in operation.

So it wasn’t such a strange question.

“The road is too rough, so it’s difficult for a carriage to pass. Even if you offered to double their pay, coachmen wouldn’t want to go.”

Given that they’d have to traverse an unpaved, bumpy dirt road with scattered stones, tree roots, and a mix of potholes and mud puddles, the cost of repairing the carriage wheels would likely exceed the pay.

“Then let’s get going.”

Leo smiled faintly as he started towards the village. After all, it was only natural to feel this way, considering he was returning to his hometown after a year.

***

[But you know, if you think about it, you’re going because the village chief is sick, right?]

[Then why are you laughing so much? Were you hoping to send the chief to his grave?]

This guy always talks like this, no matter the situation.

I’ve heard of someone chuckling, but this is the first time I’ve heard the word “giggling” used like this.

[Then what are you?]

[…What?]

The village chief was still in good health until Leo became an adult. Of course, he wasn’t entirely free from minor illnesses, but half of his letters were about catching a cold or some other light ailment.

[Then why are you going?]

In his previous life, Leo rarely returned to his hometown. After Aria had ignited his fighting spirit, even his visits to the graves became infrequent.

[So you were kind of a scoundrel, huh?]

Leo hadn’t hesitated to do whatever was necessary to defeat Aria. The only limits he might have considered were things like black magic or becoming a demon.

He even cut down on visiting his parents’ graves and almost completely severed contact with his hometown. The last time he visited in his previous life, the villagers had mistaken him for dead.

That’s why, now that he’s returned, he’s reflecting on his past actions to avoid such regrets.

[…If you admit it like that, it makes me look like the trash here.]

[Yeah, I’m the root of all evil, no doubt about it.]

The Sage, seemingly struck by the extreme verbal attack, fell completely silent.

“By the way, how much farther do we have to go, Leo?”

Aria asked curiously as she climbed the hill without breaking a sweat. It wasn’t out of fatigue, but more likely because the repetitive scenery was making her bored.

“By now, we should be nearing the village. So…”

Rustle.

The sound of rustling bushes.

It was similar to the sound of the wind, but it was unmistakably different in nature.

Leo immediately drew his sword at the noise. The stone that had been his bracelet transformed into a sword.

“Leo…!?”

Clang!

A flying dagger was deflected by Leo’s sword.

“An ambush…!?”

Before Aria could even express her shock, a dark figure sprang out from the bushes. The figure, with a body like a forest predator, covered in black fur, leaped forward and charged.

Clang!!

Fangs and claws clashed.

Unlike the earlier flying dagger, these claws—exclusive to beasts and predators—clashed directly with the sword.

“…A person… is… a wolf…?”

The attacker was a human in the form of a wolf.

“Well, well, who do we have here…! The bastard who abandoned the village to seek his fortune in the city!”

A werewolf.

“And you’ve got the nerve to call me a bastard with that face of yours?!”

Leo shouted as he struggled to fend off the werewolf’s crushing strength.

White claws and a black blade trembled as they pushed and pulled against each other. If one of them applied just a bit more force, someone would undoubtedly get hurt.

Boom!!

“Get your hands off Leo…!”

At that moment, Aria rushed in and unleashed a powerful kick. Her kick sent the black-furred predator crashing into a rock, hard enough to embed him into it.

“Are you okay, Le…!”

“Dyn, brother!!”

As Aria looked at him with concern, Leo stared at the figure—his comrade and brother—with a shocked expression.

“Brother…?”

[Isn’t he dead?!]

Leo hurriedly ran over to Dean.

Dean Hounds, the werewolf.

He was both the guardian of the village and Leo’s close brother-like figure.

***

“I’m so sorry! Really, I’m so sorry!! I kicked without thinking…!”

“It’s fine… Miss… My jaw might be a little out of place… but I don’t think there’s any other damage…”

Judging by the way Dean spoke, it was more than “a little,” but Leo chose not to correct him. After all, with the werewolf’s regenerative abilities, the bones would heal and mend quickly.

“From your reaction… Miss, is this your first time seeing a beastman?”

Aria had been keeping her head down, sneaking glances at Dean’s body from the corner of her eye. Understandably, with his distinctly unusual appearance, it was hard not to be curious.

“…Ah, yes… I apologize.”

“It’s fine. That’s actually a pretty mild reaction. Besides, I’m the one who started the fight, so there’s no need for you to act so apologetically.”

“Yeah, honestly, it’s because my brother and I started the fight that this happened.”

Smack!

“Ouch! Why did you hit me?!”

Dean, clutching his broken jaw, smacked Leo on the head.

“Reflect on your actions! If you had explained things beforehand, my face wouldn’t have ended up like this!”

“It doesn’t matter. You don’t look any different from a distance anyway.”

Whack!

Another punch landed. Taking two hits in the same spot made the impact reverberate through Leo’s brain.

“Did you really just say that!”

Every time Leo returned to the village, he and Dean always exchanged a few blows—whether with fists or swords.

Think of it as a kind of initiation ritual.

[Honestly, Aria is the victim here, and you two are the aggressors. You really should’ve known better.]

Leo’s head was ringing too much for him to argue. After rubbing his head a few times, he finally regained his ability to speak.

“Anyway, welcome to Doron. So, your name is… uh…”

Aria, maintaining her composure, greeted them with a formal and polite bow. Her beauty shone even brighter, emphasized by her graceful manners.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ariasphil Reinhardt.”

“Ah, right. Nice to meet you. Ariasphil… Rein…?”

As Dean reached out to shake hands, he suddenly noticed how sweaty his palms were.

“…Reinhardt?”

The thick fur on his body became so damp with sweat that it started to droop.

“…That warrior family…?”

“Yes.”

“The family that defeated the Demon King?”

Aria nodded.

“Yes, the first hero, Ruben Reinhardt, defeated the Demon King.”

“…Ah…”

Dean hesitated, pulling back his hand and stepping away from Aria.

“My deepest apologies!”

Then he bowed 90 degrees to apologize.

And not just once—he quickly repeated it about 90 times. If Aria hadn’t intervened to stop him, they might have witnessed an impressive display of 180-degree bows 180 times over.

What a pity they missed that.

***

“But why didn’t you say anything!? Your letter clearly mentioned that she was from a knight family!!”

“She is from a knight family.”

“Does a hero’s family count as just any knight family?!”

Indeed, when Leo had sent letters to Dean and the villagers, he had only mentioned that Aria was from a knight family, without giving any hint that she was from the Reinhardt family, let alone the hero’s lineage.

“If I’d known, we wouldn’t have just done this half-heartedly—we would’ve hung up banners and thrown a huge celebration…!”

“And could you have done it more lavishly than for a hero’s family?”

“…Well, it’s not about that… it’s the thought that counts! The thought!”

He had a point, but the memory of Dean bowing 90 times made Leo suppress a laugh.

“I’m… really okay. I’ve always thought those kinds of things were a bit overwhelming.”

“…You’re much kinder than Leo. I guess that’s why you’re with him.”

“Could you leave that last part out? I’m nice too, which is why we’re toge… Wait a minute…?”

He felt like he had misheard something.

Together? He and Aria?

Ah, she must’ve meant that they were together as friends…

“Aren’t you two a couple? You wrote that in your letter, so the whole village knows about it.”

It was a direct hit.

In all the letters Leo had sent, there hadn’t been a single mention of the word “couple” or anything even remotely similar.

“What do you mean… what kind of nonsense is that?!”

He was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t help but shout.

“What do you mean, ‘nonsense’?! You wrote it yourself!”

Dean pulled out a few letters from the pocket where he kept his knife. He began reading aloud some passages in a loud voice.

“‘She’s someone I can trust my life with.'”

That was as a rival.

“‘She’s a knight I wouldn’t hesitate to give everything for.'”

That was because she was the master he served.

“‘Because of her, I’ve found a new purpose in life!’ That’s what you wrote!!”

…That was true, but not in that sense.

Sure, it could be misunderstood, but that wasn’t what I meant at all!

“Lady Aria! You know that’s not what I meant, right? Please explain…!”

“…Heh…”

“Aria…?”

Aria’s expression was strange.

“…Hehe… huhuhu…”

No.

Everything about her was strange.