The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1190

The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 1190

Chapter 1190
The streamer Moderation, Park Seung-Hyun, had been to beaches plenty of times in his life.
As a kid, he went with his family. As an adult, he went with friends. He’d even traveled overseas, but he could say with certainty that he had never seen a beach so beautiful as where he’d been invited. It was the kind of place that made even someone without greed feel possessive.
The beaches he knew were always crowded with people, so the private beach was something completely new to him.
The wide, sparkling ocean; the clear waters, full of colorful fish; a gorgeous villa with a full view of the beach, not too far from the shore.
“Damn...” However, none of that drew his attention as much as Reina did.
To put it bluntly, he had fallen for her at first sight. He couldn’t look away from her as she swam in the water in a crimson swimsuit.
He couldn’t remember if his heart had ever raced so fast in his entire life. He asked himself the question, and the answer was never.
He was sure that he had fallen in love at first sight.
“Hey, Moderation.”
A voice pulled him back to reality. He turned to see Evangeline tilting her head, dressed in a white swimsuit.
She was undeniably beautiful—cute enough to make anyone turn, even—but the feeling was different from what Reina stirred in him.
“
Uh..
.”
“Yes?”
“Are you doing okay now?”
“Yeah. I was really angry at first, but the party and playing at the beach is fun too. Staying mad any longer would feel kind of stupid,” she answered with a light laugh.
Moderation nodded. He figured that such a level of extravagance was probably normal for the Saint of Tionis. For ordinary people, however, even just imagining the work that went into the plan was completely overwhelming.
There had to be some reason behind all of it. Alas, that was something Moderation couldn’t possibly know.
“So, then... Mind if I ask one more thing?”
“Yes?”
“It’s about Reina.”
He had learned that, despite her looks, Reina was actually older than him.
“Does she have... someone she likes?” he asked carefully.
Her face slightly tensed up. “Moderation.”
“
Uhhh.
Y-Yeah?”
“Reina struggles with androphobia.”[1]
He couldn’t process what she had just said, but her face was deadly serious.
“T-That can’t be right. We talked fine earlier, and on the surface she seemed totally...”
“Moderation... I’m not lying.”
The pounding in his chest turned cold in an instant.
* * *
“Look at how he’s looking at you.
Sheesh.
”
Reina’s eyes narrowed as Davey lounged back on the sunbed, sipping from his tumbler. It seemed she had caught the faint scent of alcohol coming from it.
“What did you put in there?”
“
Hm?
Nirvana Brew.”
It was one of Dokgo Jun’s finest brews, made for the heroes of the Hall to get drunk on.
It was the only alcohol that worked on Davey, since weaker ones didn’t even make him feel a buzz.
“Don’t drink too much. Eva already said she hates when you reek of alcohol.”
“It’s fine, I’ll just get rid of the smell.”
What he actually wanted to talk about was something else entirely.
Davey wasn’t oblivious. Park Seung-Hyun, aka Moderation, Evangeline’s benefactor, wasn’t exactly hiding how he looked at Reina. It wasn’t hard to tell he had fallen for her at first sight.
“You sure you’re okay with him? If it bothers you, I’ll step in.”
“No, it’s fine.” She shook her head, her face just slightly pale.
Hardly anyone knew that Reina, the very first of the new race he had created with the power of Goddess Freyja, was suffering from androphobia.
Of course, she used blessings to suppress her emotions so that it wouldn’t flare up in critical moments, but that wasn’t a cure.
“It’s not serious. It’ll probably get better with time.”
That was something only she could say.
“If it ever gets truly dangerous, I’ll take extreme measures,” Davey promised.
“Really, I’m fine.”
Reina was the sole Celestial. Since she wasn’t human, she clung to mental discipline with a desperation no human could match.
She instinctively drew a line in recognizing someone as a man versus recognizing them as something else entirely.
Watching her walk away, Davey sighed.
While she had at least not lost control during any battles against male enemies, it had nonetheless left him uneasy. Back when she had been active as a hero, whenever she faced aggressive men or those who looked at her with lustful eyes, she tried to suppress her fear. Unfortunately, she couldn’t fully manage it, and at times couldn’t bring out her full strength.
She carried a painful past, ultimately hypnotizing herself to avoid the ramifications. She told herself that they weren’t men, but just comrades or even another species entirely.
While on the surface she appeared fine, it was only because she had set her boundaries and controlled herself. On the inside, Davey knew she was bound to be rotting away.
If it wasn’t for Nightmare sticking by her side, things would’ve been far worse. Back when she first broke down crying to him, it had nearly reached that point.
In other words, the reason she treated Park Seung-Hyun kindly wasn’t because she didn’t have androphobia—it was because her mind had erased him from the category of man altogether.
Just as a woman with androphobia wouldn’t fear a cat or a dog, that was how Reina viewed him.
One could ask how that was possible, yet because Reina wasn’t human, judging her by human standards was a foolish endeavor.
“She says she’s fine, but...”
“Time will fix it. For now, she needs space.”
Her lifespan was incomparable to a human’s, so she would have plenty of time.
Whether she’d ever truly heal, Davey couldn’t say. If such delusion was the way she chose to protect herself, perhaps letting her be was the best choice.
Unless some miracle happened, Reina would never see Park Seung-Hyun as a man. Come to think of it, she had once said he resembled someone she used to know. He figured that was why she treated him like a younger brother.
It was a bitter reality for Park Seung-Hyun.
* * *
“
Hehe. Hehehe.”
The event had drawn far more people than she expected.
Eventually, even Al Hajat, Hyun-Ah, Kouna, and others from Earth were invited. Before long, the beach was crowded with guests. Yet none of that mattered to Evangeline.
“My precious... No one’s taking this from me.” She carefully set a small box in the treasure trove beneath the villa, then smiled with a giddy laugh.
She felt a strange fulfillment. A joy she couldn’t quite explain. Something deep inside her, something she had never felt before, was stirred awake.
The cave didn’t hold much yet. Even so, she knew it would one day be filled with plenty of treasures she cherished.
Imagining that future, she smiled brightly.
“Eva, Eva! Is this one of your treasures too?” Red Ribbon came running up to her with something in her hands, then held it out.
“
Huh?
What’s that?” Evangeline blinked in surprise. Red Ribbon was holding a jewel she’d never seen before in her cave.
“Look! There’s a bunch more over there!” Red Ribbon tugged her by the hand, dragging her deeper inside.
Blue Ribbon was crouched near a pond, peering down at several of the same beads floating in the water.
“What’re those?”
“
H-Huh?
I-I didn’t put it there! It was already in the water!” Blue Ribbon flailed, waving her hands nervously.
“Y-Yeah! They were here from the start!”
The beads sat at the bottom of the garden pond Evangeline had made in the cave.
The water glowed with a soft blue light, though no fish swam within. However, there were several shining beads that looked like clusters of fish eggs.
“
Oh?
This one’s moving!”
The bead Red Ribbon was holding suddenly twitched violently, making a clattering sound.
Startled, she quickly shoved it back into the water.
“I-I was just holding it! That’s all!” Her voice trembled, eyes watery as she panicked, afraid she’d caused trouble.
“I-It’s okay. It’s not mine either. I’ve never seen them before.”
“R-Really?”
“Yeah, they’re not mine.”
Evangeline stared silently at the bead, now calm after submerging into the water, before nodding. “What are those things?”
“
Ummm
. Eggs!” Red Ribbon said.
Eggs.
A chill ran through Evangeline. She had faced problems because of an egg not long before. Rinne and Yuria had stolen an Evil Beast King’s egg, which exploded and triggered a dimensional circle, hurling them onto the island.
‘If we mess with these, something bad might happen... I’ll just ask Dad about it.’
She gathered her thoughts and got ready to go back. “Let’s ask Dad.”
“Y-Yeah?” Red Ribbon’s big, round eyes blinked as she nodded earnestly, making Evangeline giggle.
At times like this, she really did look like a little sister. Still, sometimes she acted more like an older sister.
Leaving the eight beads behind in the pond, Evangeline returned to the villa, where she found Davey drinking with Al Hajat and Yulis.
She wrinkled her nose immediately.
“
Ugh.
This smell.”
“
Gah!
E-Eva!!” Davey scrambled to hide the bottle, but it was pointless.
“It’s fine. I know you like drinking, Dad.”
He tried to pull Evangeline into a hug, moved nearly to tears. However, she took a quick step back.
“Dad... You smell like alcohol.”
“
Ugh.
”
“
Hahaha.
Even the perfect Davey struggles with parenting, I see.”
“Not like I’ve ever had much practice,” he muttered helplessly, then fixed his gaze on Evangeline. “So, what’s up? Done playing already?”
“No, not really. It’s just... I found these weird bead-like things in the treasure trove.”
His eyes widened at once. “Beads? What beads?”
“You don’t know either? There were about eight of them in the pond. They’re really pretty, too.”
“That’s the first I’ve heard of them. How’d you find them?”
Right on cue, Red Ribbon came over while throwing her arms up. “R-Red Ribbon found them! Red Ribbon did!”
Davey picked her up and tilted his head. “Could anything else have ended up there? Guess we’d better take a look.”
“Okay.”
“Then let’s go. Al Hajat, Yulis, we’ll be back in a bit.”
“Take your time.” Al Hajat chuckled, cheeks flushed as he lifted his cup. Yulis nodded calmly.
“We’ll pace ourselves.”
“Yeah, okay. Or Winley’ll give you hell again.”
“
Hahaha.
”
Evangeline had been the one to ask Davey about the beads in the first place, so she led him down to the cave.
There were seven orbs, each larger than a hand and shimmering with rainbow light.
“This is them.”
“
Hm?
These don’t look like beads to me.”
“Wait! One’s missing!” Blue Ribbon peered hard at the water, then began counting with her little fingers.
She cried out as soon as she realized the orb with the slightly discolored sheen had disappeared, “T-The one Red Ribbon was holding! It’s gone!”
Startled, Red Ribbon flailed, fumbling for an excuse. “W-Wasn’t me! I didn’t take it!”
“But one’s missing!”
The twins started bickering, teary-eyed. Watching them, Evangeline also realized something was off.
There had definitely been eight, yet there were only seven before them.
“One’s gone... Dad, do you know what these are?”
“You didn’t bring them here yourself?”
“No. I’ve never seen them before.”
Davey’s eyes narrowed. “There’s a lot of condensed energy inside... I’ve never seen anything quite like it. Looks almost like eggs.”
“You don’t think... another dimensional circle could happen, right?”
Though the missing one made him curious, Davey shook his head. “No. There’s no such power here. Even if the walls were weaker, tearing a dimension apart isn’t something that happens easily.”
After all, there was a reason only Illyna and Davey himself were capable of dimensional warping.
“For now, let’s leave them here. With energy leaking like this, they don’t seem harmful.”
No one knew where the missing one had gone, but it didn’t feel prudent to meddle.
Evangeline nodded silently.
Not long after they left, something small began to wriggle its way out from the edge of the pond.
1. Irrational and persistent fear of men, a type of specific-phobia anxiety disorder. ☜

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Chapter 1190