The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Novel

89. The Territory’s Internal Affairs

—Davey.

“Speak,” Davey said as his expression turned ugly.

Rinne tilted her head and looked up at Davey.

—Davey. It’s fine. It’s nothing to be concerned about.

“Stop that. Are you crazy?” Davey said in complete annoyance.

Perserque flinched.

—I told you I’m alright.

“I’m sorry, but it’s not alright. Answer me while I’m still being nice.”

—…

Perserque remained silent. She slightly stepped back from Davey before biting her lips nervously. Then, she rubbed Davey’s cheeks with her hands and smiled.

—I… I don't even know what you mean.

“Stop lying.”

To others who could not see Perserque, Davey was mumbling in the air with a vicious look on his face. It would look like he had gone nuts. However, Rinne did not say anything about that because Davey had already told her about Perserque’s existence.

“That voice just now. It called for you. Am I right?

—That’s…right…

Perserque mumbled helplessly with her head lowered.

Davey was now certain that he had devoured a part of Perserque’s authority. And since he was able to devour that, his quick-wittedness and ability to grasp and comprehend things even without using her authority had gone up a notch.

“You’ve heard that voice before…”

—…

Perserque did not speak for a long time. Then, she slowly looked up and said…

—That’s right… It’s better for you not to know…

Perserque mumbled so softly that her words disappeared into nothingness. She approached Davey and placed her hands on his cheeks once more.

—Davey… I am the Abyss’ Demon Lord.

“I know that. So, why?”

—But the Demon Lord has a total of six authorities. Wrath. Deceit. Loathing. Envy. Destruction. Lust. There’s no Abyss in there. The Abyss only existed on the other side of this world.

Perserque sighed before continuing to mumble.

—However… Goddess Freyja has given the Demon Lord a very important role. The beings from the other side should never interfere in this world. On the contrary…

“You’re now the former Demon Lord, not the current Demon Lord.”

—…

Perserque hid herself instead of giving Davey an answer. Before she chose to disappear, she left a few words behind for Davey.

—It was going to happen sooner or later, even if it did not happen today. So, if you’re starting to think that this is your fault, I want you to immediately chuck that away. The problems regarding my own birth and origin is something that you cannot argue about. It’s not your fault.

That was not it.

Davey smashed the altar into pieces. The damn woman who had been by his side this entire time had made a huge decision without even consulting him.

Flinching from Davey’s sudden violent outburst, Rinne widened her eyes in surprise. She said, “Sir Davey’s blood sugar level is decreasing. Rinne states that excessive anger will bring about adverse effects in one’s body.”

Davey smiled bitterly at Rinne, who was taking out a small snack from her pockets. He said, “Let’s go…”

Davey rubbed Rinne’s head, stared at the black ore for a moment, and then tossed it into his Pocket Plane. He felt uncomfortable leaving the black ore behind, and he did want to check on it later and see what its uses were for. So, he took it with him.

***

Milpieu, whose lower half had been completely destroyed, was lying on the floor helplessly. She silently looked up at Davey while wondering if she could get up with some help.

Davey reached out for Milpieu silently.

As the dark mana within him flowed out to wrap around Milpieu, Davey said, “Get out. You saved Rinne, so I’ll let you go just this once.”

“…That’s a bit surprising,” Milpieu replied curtly as she looked at the dark mana that was circulating around her mana strangely.

While wondering why she still wasn’t dead, she said, “The loss of valuable research material should never be allowed. That biological golem is very interesting. I cannot let her disappear without being allowed to study her.”

“Crazy bitch.”

When Milpieu turned around coldly and began the recovery process of her own body, Davey looked at her with a dark gaze. He wanted to scream at her that his power was now saving her.

After completely restoring her physical body, Milpieu looked up at Davey and said cautiously, “Wait.”

Milpieu then stood in front of Davey’s path. She took out a small stone tablet and said calmly, “This is an ancient document that contains references to the murals. I have been researching it for a long time, but I’m only able to interpret a small part of it.”

When Milpieu hid the stone tablet again, Davey asked, “So, did you find anything about that damned ritual hall?”

“Nothing much.” Milpieu shook her head while fixing her glasses. She continued, “A place where the darkness devours the light. A place that does not allow even a single shred of light to get out. The Abyss…is the most threatening enemy for the humans of this era.”

“Other than that?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then, that’s enough. Get lost before I change my mind.”

Milpieu fell silent. When she saw Davey turning around to leave, she quickly opened her mouth to say, “My own race’s hideout…”

Davey stopped walking away.

“…have many such places. I want to know more about them. Can you help me?”

“Drop it. I currently have the urge to destroy all of those ancient ruins,” Davey said in irritation.

For the first time in his life, he was feeling so annoyed and frustrated. He felt so low and depressed especially after knowing that he had caused a lot of inconvenience for someone. After all, humans were not perfect.

According to Perserque, a bigger incident would happen in the future if she had chosen to do nothing. If he had known about it, Davey would certainly have stopped her.

But even after looking at the results of battle, thrashing the ruins, and taking away the source of the Abyss that had been hidden in the ruins, Davey still did not feel good. He had a lingering suspicion that it was Goddess Freyja who had led them to this dog shit situation.

***

After that, everything happened swiftly.

Davey had wanted to give the Hyeon Kingdom some time to think and ponder over the matter, because he wanted to get something in return. However, he had now changed his mind. He could not afford to allow himself the time to think complicated thoughts at the moment.

Due to that reason, he became a tad coercive when doing the negotiations. And as a result, all of the things that he had come here for had been resolved very quickly.

The matter regarding the Ming Kingdom had to be resolved between them and the Hyeon Kingdom, especially since Davey did not have that much loyalty for each of their sides to step forward and mediate. A tragic event had indeed taken place, but only a few people including Davey and Rinne were aware of what had happened.

The Ming Emperor, still lost in his grief from losing his mother, had a blank face up until the day they finished the negotiations with the Hyeon Kingdom.

When Davey was preparing to leave the Hyeon Kingdom, the Son of Heaven came to ask him one thing, “Prince Davey… I believe you are fully aware of exactly who has killed my mother, yes?”

The child in front of Davey, born as a girl, had been forced to live as a boy for almost the entire twelve years of her life. Because of that, the balance in her body had been completely wrecked. And although the negative effects had been neutralized by the Guardian Deity’s power, the Son of Heaven’s consciousness had failed to withstand the power back then and had been forced to hide deep inside.

After everything that had happened, the Son of Heaven’s potential had been turned to scrap. On the off chance that she wanted to learn the sword, she would need to put in a hundred times more effort than any of her peers.

Learning about the current state of her body, the Son of Heaven could only nod her head mindlessly. She also agreed to take responsibility over the entire matter.

Even though the Ming Kingdom was a very powerful nation, they were not able to openly abuse that power. After all, they were placed in a situation where they would be criticized by the international community if they so much as used that power to leverage.

In the end, the dust settled once the massive damage had been paid back.

Of course, international diplomacy between the Ming Kingdom and the Hyeon Kingdom was none of Davey’s concern. He stopped participating after robbing the Ming Kingdom of all its authority over the Divine Tree’s Scared Land.

“Tell me… Those bastards… Where should I find those bastards…? This Emperor… This Emperor needs to know how I should go on… How do I find the way to live…?”

A complex look flashed across Davey’s face before he said, “You should live as you please.”

“What?”

“The reason why kings die early all the time is because of overwork and stress. Even without the two, you won’t be able to live long,” Davey said.

With a smile, he patted the Son of Heaven’s head. It was a gesture that shocked everyone else. No matter how powerful he was, there was no reason for him to pat the ruler of an empire on the head.

After staying momentarily silent, the Emperor said, “This Emperor… This Emperor will hate you for this.”

The Son of Heaven was still a child.

“If that’s what will make you comfortable, then do as you please.”

“…”

“You can throw a tantrum and argue about everything. You can even curse me behind my back and spread rumors about me.”

“Prince Davey…”

“I’ll accept that much childish behavior from you.”

It was Davey’s pointless whims, but the Son of Heaven plopped down on the ground and burst into tears.

Having been forced to live as a boy, the Emperor had been told that no emperor should ever cry so easily. This entire time, she had been forced to swallow down her tears and hide her emotions.

The Son of Heaven had also been forced into this terrible mess. Despite her purity, naivety, and innocence, she had been forced to take on the key role in this terrorist attack. On top of that, her mother had lost her life. Even the Chancellor of Peace, the one who took care of their national affairs in her stead, had betrayed her and her trust.

Needless to say, the Son of Heaven had every right to weep.

Davey blocked the outside world and allowed the Son of Heaven to cry to her heart's content while he patted her back silently. Why was he being so nice to this child? He asked himself this question, but it was most likely due to him pitying her and feeling sorry for this little emperor who smiled innocently at him. She had also called him her idol once before.

“Cry as much as you want. Later… When Your Majesty needs help, I will come and help you.”

The child cried and cried, looking for her mother. She did not stop crying until she was exhausted.

***

The procession that was returning to the Heins Territory was longer than when they had departed. Compared to before, they now had five more people in their party.

Tanya O’Rowane, Davey’s first younger sister, did not have any reason to stay in Hyeon Kingdom so she had come along with them. There was also Princess Maria, who had come as a hostage to stop useless gossip and issues after the incident. And finally, there were Dan-Goong, Tanya’s personal guard, and the two palace maids who served her.

There had actually been a dispute on who would come along, but they were all going to the Heins Territory in the end.

Davey originally wanted to take his time to relax on the slow-moving carriage, but he just kept thinking about needing immediate rest. With that thought in mind, he released a huge amount of mana and casted a large-scale space movement magic.

Space movement magic was obviously supposed to be done several times over the course of their travels, but Davey did not have the time to deal with that. By omitting the numerous routes that they had to take, he casted the magic once to immediately jump through space.

They all arrived in front of the Heins Territory in just two spatial jumps. When the blue sky greeted everyone’s eyes once again, they were already in front of the Heins Territory and its lively atmosphere.

Of course, the people of Hyeon Kingdom, who were unaccustomed to the new culture, found themselves to be very surprised by the sight. They had only jumped through space, but they felt like they had traveled through a strange space and time. They were like people fresh from the countryside.

Just when they were about to walk around and ignore all of the people looking at them…

“Kyaaaaaaack! Please help me!!!”

…a scream laden with tears rang out from somewhere.

Aside from the maids, everyone else flinched. The scream had seemingly echoed directly in their ears.

“Baris, go straight to the castle with your sister and the rest of our guests.”

“Brother. I will go with you.”

“No. This is my land.”

Davey was feeling very terrible, but he wanted to take care of this unexpected matter.

Baris said nothing else after hearing Davey’s calm words. He simply slapped Winley on the back while shaking his head. He had nothing else to do here.

“Let’s go. Brother told us to go first.”

“It hurts! Do you really have to hit me while saying those words? This muscle monkey!”

“This little?!”

The twins bickered and argued before grabbing Tanya by the arms.

“Sister! Come on! I’ll show you around the castle! The dwarves made it so beautifully, you know? You’ll definitely be shocked once you see it!”

After seeing the twins drag Tanya around like that, Davey turned around with a silent smile. Then, he asked, “Are you going to follow me?”

“If possible, I want to follow you,” Princess Maria answered calmly with a blindfold still covering her eyes.

The maids were flustered by the princess saying that she wanted to follow Davey.

“Don’t worry and go to the castle first. I will go there with the Prince,” Princess Maria said.

The maids reluctantly bowed their heads and left for the palace under Baris’ guidance.

After everyone left for the palace, Davey cracked his knuckles and slowly headed to the dark alley where the sound had come from.

“Hmph! Hmphhh!!!”

Without any installed lights, the alley remained dark.

“This is why everyone has to live in a bright place.”

Clicking his tongue, Davey turned to enter the alley. He soon saw that several men were covering a commoner girl’s mouth and dragging her along the alley.

Davey immediately stopped Princess Maria, who was about to step forward.

“Damn bitch! Shut up!”

“We will not hurt you if you follow us obediently! Don’t you know who we are? Bitch?!”

The girl was obviously a commoner, but Davey knew just who she was. Before the Heins Territory had been developed, he had saved a girl called Lina from the goblin territory. Lina was a good child who smiled innocently and brightly at him. She also always handed him sweet potatoes whenever she met Davey on the streets on his territory inspections.

Davey wondered if Lina had done something for those men to do something like that to her.

—…The dark side of the world will always come and intervene in developing territories. All things alive can breed parasites… You have to remember that, Davey.

Davey nodded quietly at Perserque, who had just emerged from a long period of silence. It seemed like he had been neglecting the internal affairs of his territory due to being too focused on international affairs.

“Who the hell are you?!”

Men dressed in what seemed like mercenary clothes and light armor eventually appeared to block Davey’s path. They frowned at him…until they spotted Princess Maria, who had her eyes covered with a blindfold, behind him.

Then, with vicious smiles on their faces, they said, “What’s this? So, you’re in the same field as these older brothers, huh? I’m sorry, but we have already been booked out for the entire year. If you don’t want to get smashed, then you should leave right now.”

“Same field?” Davey asked, a smile blooming on his face.

One of the men said with a frown, “Of course, aren’t I correct? Although, I think your taste is quite unusual, brother. I can tell that she is blind. I can’t see half of her face, but I still think she’s pretty.”

None of the men thought that Davey and Princess Maria were nobles. Why? Because they weren’t wearing any fancy and vintage clothing. However, that did not matter.

“Then, we’ll just pass b…”

“You. Stay right where you are.”