The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1155

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1155

Chapter 1155
The Grand Duchess Kathryn clearly had a lot to talk about, so she had no intention of saying anything tactless to Aeria, who was staying by her side in the room, like telling her she should head back soon.
Though Kathryn greeted her with a smile, it was clear she was struggling with the memories she had lost. Davey also knew this, which left a bitter taste in his mouth.
According to her husband, the Grand Duchess often couldn't sleep at night.
Her memories hadn’t just disappeared—they had been forcibly erased. That left holes in the soul, and with those holes came something akin to phantom pain.
Considering everyone but Evangeline had complained of similar symptoms, the prognosis wasn’t exactly positive. If even the composed and unshakable Grand Duchess couldn’t sleep from the stress, then the average human mind must’ve been fraying further with each passing moment.
At the current rate, Davey felt the plan to reconcile demons and humans might fall apart completely.
That was when the divine power within him suddenly began to resonate rapidly.
[-- --]
The sound of an indecipherable language echoed inside his head. Though one could question if it was an auditory hallucination, he knew exactly who had triggered this resonance.
Without hesitation, he reached into the air before his body dispersed like particles. The rift beyond his hand soon sucked him in.
“Did you call for me?”
He arrived in the Saint Sanctuary where the heroes were. The very heart of it, in fact.
It was the sanctuary where Goddess Freyja lay asleep.
There, a woman swishing her feet around in a small marble pool turned to look at him, clearly bored. She then picked up a tablet placed beside her. It was the medium through which the primordial being, the great will, could communicate with created beings. After all, the woman before him was merely an avatar.
[Has our love gone cold?]
His expression immediately soured. “When did you ever love me?”
[So I’m just a one-time pleasure to you,
huh?
]
“...”
Normally, he would’ve been flustered. It wasn’t exactly common for an avatar of the Primordial God to act like that, after all.
However, he knew exactly what was going on—the Goddess was toying with him.
“You summoned me because you had something to say, didn’t you?”
The woman looked up at him briefly, then turned her gaze away.
“Before that, may I ask you something?” Even as he asked, the woman kept her eyes averted. Even so, he pressed on, “If not anyone else, isn’t there at least some way to restore Grand Duchess Kathryn’s memories?”
He recognized the absurdity of his question the moment he asked it.
The woman finally turned her head and showed him the tablet.
[Don’t you have...]
“Have?”
[A conscience?]
Davey turned his gaze away after the question. He knew the fact that the victims had even made it out alive was already practically a miracle. The world’s laws had been altered, after all, and the aftermath of such an event was bound to be abnormal.
“A pointless question, then. I guess time heals all things. Anyways, why did you call me?”
In response, the woman pointed to the heart of the sanctuary, where the true body of Goddess Freyja slept.
[I’m dreaming.]
“Dreaming?” The word caught him off guard. His eyes widened. “You mean... the Dream World?”
[Why do you think the Dream World even exists?]
Her question made him shrug. “Isn’t it because you’re asleep? I heard you used to leave the world’s governance to Thanatos and fall into cycles of sleep.”
Thanatos wasn’t called the God of Sleep and Dreams for nothing. Most likely, they had been meant to manage the dreams that arose while Goddess Freyja slept.
[Correct. And now, I’m sleeping again.]
“When will you wake up?”
In other words, the Dream World wouldn’t disappear until Goddess Freyja woke. She paused for a moment before answering.
[After you die.]
“So you have no plans to wake up any time soon?”
He had apparently hit the mark, as she said nothing in return.
“So? What does the formation of the Dream World have to do with you calling me?”
He wondered if that really was the reason why she had called him all the way there in the first place.
She silently gazed at him, then placed her hand on his chest. Light surrounded his clothes, and in the next moment, his garments all vanished. All that remained was what looked like a swim suit.
He twisted his face in shock, but she gave him two big thumbs-up with bright eyes.
[Perfect.]
As Davey stared blankly at her, she came closer, poked his muscles curiously, and then restored his original clothes.
“So, is it bad if more Dream Worlds appear?”
[Not bad. Dreams are rest. Dreams are a blessing.]
She gently caressed his cheek, bringing her face close. So close they almost touched. She then pulled back again.
[But sometimes, if you dream too much, you get nightmares.]
“Nightmares?”
She nodded in response.
[They’re not evil, but they are mischievous.]
She waved her hand before a scene formed in front of them. It was clearly the landscape of Earth.
However, Earth wasn’t the important part. Something pitch-black in the scene was what truly caught his eye.
Slash! Slash! Slash!!
The sound alone made his skin crawl.
[That child’s memories can’t be restored.]
That was an absolute fact. However, there was something else that could be done.
[We can patch over the unintended voids left by that memory loss using the power of the Dream World. It’s like how a dream slips away the moment you wake.]
The memories wouldn’t come back, but the pain from them could be dulled nonetheless.
It was a drastic remedy.
* * *
When Reina and Super Ribbon stepped out to the nearby convenience store for a meetup during their break, a young man with a black plastic bag in hand greeted them. “
Ah,
welcome!”
“I'm Super Ribbon.”
“Nice to meet you, I’m Park Seung-Hyun. And this must be Reina?” His manners were surprisingly well-polished.
“I'm Reina. Nice to meet you.” With a polite tone, she gave him a slight nod. As she did, a few strands of hair slipped from behind her ear, falling gently along her cheek.
The unintended elegance caught him off guard, and Seung-Hyun averted his eyes in mild panic.“G-Good to meet you.
Oh,
right, I brought coffee. Shall we sit?”
Sporting a friendly smile, he gestured toward the table in front of the convenience store.
Though he wasn’t as eye-catching as the two, Park Seung-Hyun was still known for being quite handsome himself. As such, the three being together naturally drew attention. Of course, just as anyone who had watched his streams would, they knew he was a bit unhinged in contrast to his appearance.
Then again, most streamers were unhinged in one way or another.
“First off, let me apologize. I’m sorry that you two were dragged into a mess just because of me.”
Super Ribbon shook her head. “No need. I don’t think you’ve done anything that you need to apologize for.”
“
Huh?
But the cafe got packed because of that post I wrote...”
“It’s fine,” she said with a chuckle. “It really has nothing to do with you, so you can lift your head, okay?”
Park Seung-Hyun clearly thought that someone had tracked them through his post. Alas, the truth was entirely different.
The waves of customers in the cafe weren’t fans of Evangeline. They were instead mostly college students from the nearby university.
They had simply heard that two pretty part-timers were working there and had dropped in out of curiosity. They then ended up sticking around, charmed by how adorably unfamiliar the two girls were with the modern culture of Earth.
Sure, a few inevitably tried to make a move on them, but none of it was his fault.
“
Haha,
really? That’s a relief!
Phew.
”
“Are you feeling alright?” Reina asked, tilting her head slightly. “Your heartbeat seems a little too fast.”
Seung-Hyun quickly shook his head. “N-No, it's nothing. I guess I just felt relieved too suddenly after being tense all day.”
“Tense?”
“Yes. Honestly, I was worried I might’ve upset the Saint of Tionis for no reason...” While he wasn’t a very tactful person, even someone like him could sense when his life might be in danger.
The reason he often teased Evangeline wasn’t just out of familiarity and familiarity. It was also because toeing that line with her gave him a thrill—a literal life-on-the-line sort of thrill. Even so, if something as trivial as a bait post made him land on Davey’s bad side, he knew that the level of thrill would be exhausting or even threatening in a completely different way.
Of course, he had only come to his worrisome conclusion because of rumors he’d read on the internet. Still, if even the slightest part of it was true, it’d be seriously terrifying.
“
Oh!
My father.” Understanding the situation, Super Ribbon gave a soft chuckle.
“I’ve been so on edge I haven’t even been able to sleep properly,” he groaned out.
“It’s fine.”
“
Huh?
”
“I said it’s fine. Father’s actually quite pleased.”
Park Seung-Hyun blinked in confusion at her unexpected words.
She gave a sweet smile and a nod. “Honestly, Father is thankful to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. Eva’s very fond of you, after all. In the whole mess of the internet streaming world, the only two people she leans on are her manager, Mr. Al Hajat, and you.”
While there were plenty of people generally helping Evangeline during her time spent on Earth, during her streams, only those two actually cared for her directly.
“She’s right,” Reina chimed in with a gentle smile. “If he really had a problem with you, the ones by his side would’ve already moved.”
“The ones by his side...?” Seung-Hyun looked around, puzzled, but there was no one around.
Thinking they were joking, he glanced at Reina again.
She hesitated for a moment, then swept her hand lightly through the air. It was a simple mana disruption.
Her hand was slender and pale, yet watching her hand move gave him a strange chill down his spine. Even after seeing Awakened individuals make their moves, he’d never felt anything quite like it.
It wasn’t threatening, as just a faint breeze had stirred.
However, before he could ask for further clarification, his mouth froze wide open. It was because to either side of him—where he'd not seen anything until then—he felt the overwhelming presence of two massive beings.
Turning to see them, they looked to be about two meters and thirty centimeters tall[1]. They had bodies bursting with muscle so absurdly dense, he questioned whether they were even human. He could also see that their bodies were covered in what seemed to be either white fur or white skin, hard to tell which. As for clothing, he just saw red pairs of tiny briefs, the kind a bodybuilder might wear.
“
Kyu.
”
Their faces were monstrous, none other than the rabbits. Their beady red eyes sparkled as they stared dead at him.
Though they looked like musclebound brutes wearing rabbit costumes, his instincts screamed that these two were not human.
“He’s a bit overprotective when it comes to Eva, so she’s got bodyguards all over the place,” Reina explained casually.
Then, with another wave of her hand, the rabbits dissolved into thin air.
“W-What in the world...?”
“
Hmm?
I just dismissed the shadows of those rabbits hiding beside you. Don’t worry, they’ll fade again on their own soon enough.”
In other words, Reina hadn’t suddenly summoned them. They had been there the whole time, her gesture merely revealing them.
A cold chill ran down his spine as his skin crawled.
“
Ah,
don’t worry,” Super Ribbon said, waving her hand to reassure him. “They’re actually really nice.”
However, her words barely registered in his ears.
“Besides, those two are assigned to us specifically. There’s no one watching you, Seung-Hyun.”
Despite them saying that he had nothing to worry about, his mind had already been sent spiraling into obsessive insanity, combing through every past interaction with Evangeline. He began to wonder if he had done or said anything that might be misinterpreted.
“
Ummm.
But why didn’t you tell your sister?”
“
Ahhh...
” Super Ribbon smiled bitterly. “I thought it might distract her.”
“I see. But you two must live nearby,
huh?
”
“That’s right. Funny coincidence, isn’t it?” Super Ribbon giggled as she stood up from her seat. “
Ah,
Reina, I’m gonna step away for a bit.”
Without any warning, she left, leaving Seung-Hyun sitting across from Reina in awkward silence. It was only natural, considering it was their first time ever meeting.
“Are you feeling alright?” she asked gently.
He blushed slightly.
‘Get it together, Park Seung-Hyun! You’re into older women, not girls younger than you.’
He was in his mid-to-late twenties. Precisely speaking, he was twenty-seven. He tried to suppress the sudden pounding in his chest, unaware that Reina was actually older than him.
“But did you really just come to apologize?” she asked playfully as she propped her chin on one hand and smiled brightly.
“Pardon?”
“You’re not good at hiding your expressions. Must be your age.”
He blinked, stunned. Him being treated as someone young didn’t sit right with him. “I-I mean... People say I look young, but I’m in my late twenties. In three years I’ll be thirty, flirty and thriving.”
“How old do you think I am?” she asked with a smirk.
“
Uhhh.
Maybe early twenties?”
“Wrong!” Reina laughed, genuinely amused.
For her, Earth was just another remote region away from home. Nonetheless, she was able to rest and relax there with peace of mind, content in the knowledge that should go back to Tionis any time she wanted.
He was shocked. “Don’t tell me... you’re older than me?”
“Yup. Probably by a year or two.”
It sounded like a complete lie. He couldn’t believe that someone with a face like hers would be over thirty.
His shock was written all over his face, so Reina chuckled again. “As you may know, once you reach a certain level of power, the aging process slows or even stops altogether.”
Reina, of course, was a member of the celestial race that didn’t age at all after reaching adulthood. Even so, there was no need to mention that to him.
“Wanna try calling me older sister?” she teased him, eyes narrowed.
Caught completely off guard, he stammered awkwardly, “
Uh... U-Uh...
I-I
ummm
...”
“It’s a joke.”
“
Ah!
Okay...”
“So? What did you actually want to say to me?”
Park Seung-Hyun's face grew conflicted as he seemed to be gathering his thoughts.
Just when he was finally ready to talk, a sudden resonance shook the air around them.
Startled, people glanced around before an eerie sound followed.
Psssh!!
With a loud pop, something burst out of the nearby sewer drain.
Seung-Hyun’s face went pale. “W-What the hell?!
Aaaah!!
”
A cockroach nearly a meter in diameter was suddenly flung toward him.
Park Seung-Hyun, who had a deep-seated fear of bugs—especially cockroaches—completely lost his mind and went out of control. Without thinking, he leapt up and clung to Reina.
She sighed softly and chuckled. She hadn’t expected it, but thought this man was surprisingly cute in some ways.
Then, with a flash of her hand, the air itself quivered.
Slash!!
A blade of white light flew out, slicing the cockroach clean in two.
Pssssh.
Just like that, the cockroach vanished as if it had only ever been an illusion.
There were no signs of damage. No traces that it had ever existed. It was as if the cockroach had never been real in the first place.
“W-What was that?” he murmured in shock.
Reina, slightly flustered, spoke up, “
Ummm.
Can you let go of me now?”
“
Ah! Oh!
I’m so sorry!” He abruptly jumped back, his face red with embarrassment.
At the same time, the two rabbits had been revealed once more, heads tilted as they stared at him. Their glowing red eyes were clearly asking her if they should remove him.
Reina's eyes narrowed with a frown. “No, no. It’s nothing like that.”
1. That’s 7.54593 feet in America units, which actually makes them 7ft 6.55in tall. They should play in the NBA ☜

Chapter 1155