The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1160
Chapter 1160
“I-It’s on the house!” a tiny child said while holding out a tray.
The woman with short, sky-blue hair looked at the red-haired child in a daze, then asked absentmindedly, “Hey, little one. Do you want to live with me?”
“
Huh?
Ummm.
Red Ribbon lives with Dad...”
At those words, the woman flinched, then nodded. “R-Right! That was my mistake. Just pretend you didn’t hear what I said.”
“Okaaay.”
Cold sweat trickled down the woman’s face. She couldn’t believe what she had just said!
‘Get it together. I came here to spy on humans!’
She clenched and unclenched her fists, then sprang to her feet. With a hardened expression, she rushed out of the cafe and began moving quickly elsewhere.
Her movements were so fast they went beyond what a normal human could manage, but the people around her just assumed she was some kind of physical-type Awakened individual passing by.
She didn’t just simply move fast. At one point, she vanished altogether from people’s view as if she had slipped away, then reappeared in a nearby secluded alley.
Peering through the alley with a slightly weary look, she let out a short sigh.
However, the silence didn’t last long. She soon heard laughter and the dull sound of impacts echoing from deeper inside the alley.
Staggering forward, she saw several men and women beating and stomping someone.
“You piece of shit, you sure talk too much. If we tell you to bring something, you bring it!”
She stared at the scene in a daze, then her eyes narrowed. “So this is it. Human nature really doesn’t change,
eh.
”
“
Huh?
What’re you lookin’ at, asshole?” said one of the people from the gang.
She no longer had the flustered expression from earlier. Instead, she wore a smile so cold that it made it hard to believe she was the same person.
“That human’s about to die. Well, it’s not like humans ever cared about the condition of their victims.”
“What’s with this bitch? Hey, hag. Why don’t you mind your own damn business?”
One of them, a cigarette hanging from his lips, frowned and jerked his chin at her. It looked like they’d hit her just for standing nearby, so she let out a brief sigh.
Clap!
The moment she clapped with a cold smile, everyone there watched her transformation. Large butterfly wings appeared behind her, and as the softly glowing blue wings fluttered along with her sky-blue hair, multicolored powder was scattered into the air. The ones who inhaled it instantly collapsed, their faces turning pale.
Everything had happened in an instant. The only person who remained conscious was the one being beaten by the group.
Surrounded by those who had fallen without a single visible wound, the lone survivor slowly pushed himself up, trembling as he looked around in shock.
However, the woman with the sky-blue hair didn’t harm him.
“P-Please... don’t kill me...” he mumbled in fear, and she stared at him indifferently before vanishing without a trace.
* * *
“
Ugh... Grrrrr!!
” Nightmare glared at Davey with a face full of frustration.
The little thing that had been with Reina was eventually dragged away again by Goddess Freyja. It was only released after getting the exact number of scribbles back on its own face, plus two more strokes than what it had drawn on Goddess Freyja in the first place.
“
Hahahahaha...
” Davey burst out laughing at its face. He couldn’t help it.
Naturally, the sulking Nightmare lightly smacked Davey with its small fists, but it was no more than the weak tantrum of a child.
“We’ve been expecting you.” The husband of Grand Duchess Kathryn bowed quietly when Davey arrived at the archducal manor.
“Please, raise your head. Even if we're both Grand Dukes, a duke of the Empire shouldn’t bow so easily.”
“No, this isn’t my gesture as a grand duke. It’s just gratitude to someone treating my wife.” He had a gentle nature, but there was a certain firmness behind his words. “She recently passed out again in pain.”
“That’s a relief,” Davey said, since the task would be easier to perform on someone who was asleep. “Let me be clear: This is only a temporary fix. It’s not a fundamental cure.”
“I am aware. I know she’ll have to live with it for the rest of her life.”
Painkillers could dull pain, but they didn’t heal wounds.
“
Ughhh!
”
When Davey handed a piece of candy to Nightmare, who was tapping his leg in protest, its eyes sparkled and popped it into its mouth without hesitation.
“If you behave, I’ll let you go back to Reina.”
Nightmare gave Davey a suspicious glare, but he just ignored it.
Once Davey entered the bedroom where Grand Duchess Kathryn was sleeping, he saw her drenched in cold sweat, her face pale.
Nightmare curiously approached her and poked her cheek a few times, then looked up at Davey.
“She’s suffering mentally because of a rift in her soul. What I need you to do is use your dream to patch over that rift, making it seem as if it’s sealed.”
It was the so-called placebo effect, yet in their case, the effect was powerful enough that it couldn’t be dismissed as just a simple placebo.
Nightmare showed a complex expression as it hesitated.
“I know you want to mess around. But... if you start playing games here, you know what happens, right?” Davey held up a bright red orb, and Nightmare flinched. “Please.”
After a moment of hesitation, Nightmare sighed to make it very clear how annoyed it was. Then, staring intently at the unconscious Kathryn, it clapped its tiny hands together and formed a lump of clay in front of itself. It smacked the clay with its small hands repeatedly until it eventually shaped it into a small crystal-like object.
“Make sure it’s a peaceful dream.”
Nightmare was only called Nightmare because it liked to play pranks. In other words, it was fully capable of creating normal, pleasant dreams as well.
The reason Davey had once pushed Nightmare to its limits and carved fear into it was exactly for this reason. He had to work to keep it under control, since it was normally so unpredictable.
Finally, the crystallized light began to seep into the Grand Duchess’s body, and the tense moment stretched.
“
Mm...
” A few seconds later, her face flushed slightly. It then shifted to a peaceful, no, embarrassed expression.
“Hey, what kind of dream did you give her?” Davey asked, eyes narrowing.
Nightmare stuck out its tongue in response and ran off.
“Is... Is she alright now?”
“For now,” Davey assured.
“But that child, what exactly is...”
“It may look like a child, but it’s not human. Think of it as a spirit in charge of dreams.”
The husband stared at Nightmare’s retreating back in shock.
Davey requested, “Please don’t tell anyone about this. Not even her.”
“I understand. If this means my wife won’t have to suffer... that’s all that matters.”
“Remember, this peace is only temporary. If she suffers a strong shock, it might relapse,” Davey reminded.
“I understand. Truly... thank you.”
When he bowed deeply, Davey smiled bitterly before turning away.
There were still many more to treat, after all. He had to treat all of those who were suffering from the same symptoms as Grand Duchess Kathryn.
When Davey went out following Nightmare, he found it slumped on the ground.
“What’s wrong?” Davey rushed over in alarm. Nightmare trembled, looking up with an expression of disbelief, unable to hold itself upright.
When he picked Nightmare up, it flinched in surprise, then turned its gaze away.
There was no way Nightmare would be that drained just from covering a few dreams. Davey threw away his original plan and instead returned straight to the Saint Sanctuary.
Goddess Freyja greeted him with her usual blank expression, and Davey asked immediately, “What’s wrong with it?”
Seeing the limp Nightmare in his arms, she gave a solemn reply.
[Overexerted itself.]
“It was just one person. Are you saying that the being who can manipulate all the nightmares in the world got overloaded just by controlling one single dream?”
That was utter nonsense!
[Do you know what a leak is?]
“You mean... something’s leaking? Wait, are you saying it’s suffering from a major energy leak?”
[Exactly. But a bit of rest should fix it up.]
With that, Goddess Freyja cradled Nightmare in her arms and gently patted its back.
At the same time, its eyes gleamed as it suddenly pulled out a pen from who knows where. Goddess Freyja, completely unfazed, gently grabbed its hand and turned the pen’s tip toward Nightmare’s own face.
“
Uuuugh... Uuugh!!!
” Nightmare tried to resist, but there was no way a being like Nightmare could overpower the avatar of the Primordial God.
“
Ugh...
Hnnng...
” In the end, Nightmare was forced to draw on its own face with its own hand. Though it whimpered and looked like it might cry, Goddess Freyja kept her blank face as she guided the scribbling.
Nightmare was released only after its entire face was completely covered in black scribbles, with the word “dummy” written on its cheek for good measure. It reflexively tried to hide behind Davey, but then flinched and looked back and forth between him and Goddess Freyja.
From its point of view, neither of them seemed any safer than the other.
Eventually, it waved a hand to open a gate in the air and tried to flee. However, Davey grabbed it by the scruff of the neck. “Let’s go see Reina.”
Nightmare froze completely at his words.
“We’ll do the rest of them in a few days.”
It nodded its head vigorously.
Just as Davey was about to leave Goddess Freyja, she raised her tablet.
[Do you believe in possibilities?]
“Possibilities?”
[Imagine if someone stands at a crossroads where they could either become a villain who should be erased or a virtuous person, all depending on what they decided to do next.]
“That all depends on what they do. The difference between good and evil is a fine line. In a way, they’re just two sides of the same coin.”
Hearing his explanation, she quietly lowered her head.
[Do you believe in the possibility that someone who was once a villain could return to the path of virtue?]
She asked again. Yet it felt different this time.
“I don’t think it’s possible...”
There was a saying that humans couldn’t be fixed. It wasn’t an absolute truth, but it was another way of saying people didn’t change easily.
[Keep your eye on Butterfly. After that, I’d like you to answer my question again.]
Though Davey didn’t quite understand, he nodded anyway. “I’ll think about it.”
‘Butterfly? What ‘butterfly’? There are millions of butterflies in the world.’
That was when it happened.
“
Ugh,
don’t even bring up any butterfly.” A hero who had come to meet with Goddess Freyja opened his mouth. “It brings back too many memories.”
“Memories?”
“It’s nothing. Just... I never had good luck with butterflies.”
It was the King of Conquest, Astrea. The man known as the assault captain of Paladia shuddered as he spoke. He then reached into his pocket and handed something to Goddess Freyja. “Odin said to pass this on.”
She took the small pouch from Astrea, pulled out a tiny doll from inside, and gave a satisfied nod.
.
!
Chapter 1160
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