Chapter 487 – Reunion and Transformation

000

When Illenu and Creon raised their voices in amazement at each other, seeing that scene, Lionel did not stop wiping the cup, but opened his mouth with a slightly bewildered expression.

“What is it? Do you know each other?”

At Lionel’s words, Cleon and Illenu looked at each other for a while, then turned their heads or scratched their heads.

“Ah. Should I say we know each other…”

“It’s just that we’ve done a quest together once before.”

Illenu and Cleon met in an unforgettable village ruled by vampires.

The two worked together to defeat Illenu’s father her, and after that, Illenu went on a journey to hunt other vampires.

They hadn’t met since then, but both of them must have had strong memories of each other.

He must be the same, in order to cure Cleon, whose body was turned into a donut by a vampire, Illenu…

After thinking that far, Illenu glanced at Cleon with his arms crossed while his face her blushed.

Lionel looked at the two in turn, then nodded as if he knew.

“Then it means we met again by chance. It must be a tough relationship.”

“I see… I never imagined that I would be reunited with you in the East. How many years? About four years…?”

“That much… I guess.”

Hearing Illenu’s words, Cleon stiffened for a moment, then nodded awkwardly.

It’s not ‘this Illenu’, but Cleon had just reunited with Illenu a few days ago.

In the gap of another world, Illenu became the goddess of death, confined to the realm of exile.

An existence that forgot everything on its own in order to prevent her father, who was parasitized by the blood of the vampire sleeping inside her, from trying to control her body her.

In the end, the incident was somehow solved, but that was also the Illenus of ‘the world on the other side’.

‘Then… This Illenu still has that guy’s blood…?’

When Cleon ponders such things, Illennu frowns at her.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Huh? Ah, ah. No. I’m sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, but you haven’t changed at all… So.”

“Should I take that as a compliment? Well, because Dhampir ages slowly. …That said, you’ve changed a lot. You’re taller. Your physique has grown… I guess you came late to growth?”

Cleon nodded at Illenu’s words while passing her hair over her shoulder her.

“Well… There are a lot of stories, but for now, I’m at work.”

Cleon nods her head at that.

“Then manager. I’ll be handing out flyers outside. Call me when you order!”

“Ah. Yes.”

Illenu gave Cleon a fresh smile that he had never seen before, picked up the flyers piled up under the counter, and went out of his shop.

And when the bells ring and then die down.

“So? What kind of relationship do you two have?”

When he looked at the liquor being served in front of him as it was pouring into the cup, Cleon looked at it for a while before accepting it.

“It’s as I said before. This is a colleague who once worked together to solve a dangerous request.”

“The gaze we exchanged with each other wasn’t that much.”

Lionel looked at Cleon as if he was concerned about that part.

“It’s a bit complicated… Anyway. Illenu is a good guy. Please take good care of me.”

“Hmph. I don’t want to tell you this.”

Glancing at Cleon, Lionel shook his head helplessly.

Then, he quietly talks to Cleon.

“I’m worried about my daughter hanging out with a playboy.”

“…That. I can’t help but say I’m sorry. But it’s okay. Just like Illenu, Herti-sama and I are just colleagues who aim for the same thing.”

“You…”

At Cleon’s answer of about 10 points out of 100, Lionel looked at him with an expression as if he was serious.

And when their gazes cross for a moment, Lionel sighs and says ‘wow’.

“You’re the type to call women. You.”

“…”

Lionel, who gave an accurate review of Cleon, speaks with his thick arms crossed.

“Of course I’m worried about Herti. But that doesn’t mean I hate you.”

Cleon scratches his cheek, wondering if he should be grateful for his words of her.

“Obviously, Herti is always smiling. He’s a kind guy who approaches everyone first. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have someone special.”

“That-“

“Well. If you don’t want to do that, then I don’t care. If that’s the case, please refuse properly. That way, the scars left in his heart his will be less.”

Clearly, Lionel knew that Cleon had no ill will.

But even though he knows that, he can’t help but care more about his daughter.

“Well. Let’s end the dull talk here. Come to think of it. Didn’t you try to ask something before Illenu came out?”

As if Cleon remembered that the question he was about to ask was overshadowed by his guest’s voice of her, he tilted his head and asked.

“Ah. That… Is about Bahamut.”

“…Bahamut? What about this guy?”

Bahamut, who was already staring down at his plate while devouring an unknown number of snacks, looked up at Cleon, who had called for him, twitching his ears when his name her was called.

“No. … I know this guy is really smart for a cat. However, there are a lot of differences from a normal cat. Herti says he’s been a friend since she was born…”

“Ah. That’s what you mean.”

Lionel nodded and replied as if Cleon’s words were true.

“Yes. As you said, Herti and this guy have been together for over 20 years already. Thanks to this clever guy, I have been helped in many ways.”

As he said that, he stroked Bahamut’s head.

However, after hearing that answer, Cleon’s expression her became even more incomprehensible.

“…Lionel. But the average lifespan of a cat is less than 20 years. Even if it’s over 20 years old, it’s normal for it to be very weak… Isn’t this guy not like that?”

When Cleon says that, Bahamut cries a little longer than usual, saying “Hey-Ong.”

It may have been a protest against Cleon, who said he was not normal.

“Haha. I asked what you were talking about. Of course, that’s a story limited to normal cats.”

“…So. Bahamut is not a normal cat?”

“Hmm? No. This guy is a cat. He’s just a cat who lives a little longer and is a little smarter.”

Cleon couldn’t help but feel that Lionel’s words were somehow strange.

Lionel’s attitude was his, as if having doubts or doubts about the longevity of Bahamut itself was strange, was obviously a problem somewhere.

“Brother… You’ll need to be a bit more careful to dig into this.”

Schrödinger admonishes Cleon from his pocket in a voice that Cleon can hear.

Cleon, too, agreed with Schrödinger’s words and nodded his head.

“That’s right. It’s natural for Bahamut to live a long time…”

“Yeah. That kind of bothers me. You’re a freak too.”

Lionel said to forget about such thoughts and handed him another drink.

Cleon silently accepted the drink, drank it, and looked at Bahamut, who was wagging his tail carelessly and accepting Lionel’s touch her.

‘Bahamut… What are you…’

The moment Cleon tried to sigh as he felt that his true identity her was being further questioned.

Outside the shop, Udangtang! The eyes of the guests, Lionel, and Cleon turned toward the door at once.

“…Is it a problem?”

When Lionel quietly puts down the cup, leaves the counter, and tries to head out the door, Cleon stops him.

“I’ll be there.”

“You?”

“Yes. You have to pay for the free drink.”

At Cleon’s words, Lionel blinks for a moment, then bursts into laughter.

“Okay. Then, let’s see your skills. It looks like you don’t have a sword. Didn’t you have one before?”

At Lionel’s point, Cleon shakes his head.

“It’s okay.”

Then, with a confident expression somewhere, open the cafe door and go outside-

There, I could already see that Illenu was staring at some men while confronting them.

Promotional flyers for the store that Illenu had been carrying were strewn everywhere in front of the store.

One of the three young men, apparently already having an early drink, was lying on the ground, the other two glaring at Illenu.

“Damn it… What a woman’s power…”

The man who was lying down got up and wiped his mouth.

The man and the two people next to him who looked like his friends he were talking while glaring at Illenu with frowns on their faces.

“This guy has white hair, and his ears are a bit pointed … Are you a nobleman or not?”

“What? Then if you report it to the temple, you can get a bounty…”

“That’s absurd.”

When Illenu does what Cleon wants to say instead, the men who notice Cleon suddenly look at Cleon and talk.

“Hey bro! Stop this girl! She’s beating people all of a sudden!”

“Hyung, you’re a knight? At that time, she caught and freed the nobleman near the temple! This woman is also like a nobleman!”

Ignoring the chatter of the men, Cleon trudged and stood beside Illenu.

“I’m sorry, but this guy isn’t a nobleman, he’s a little different. More than that. And he’s not the kind of guy who would suddenly hit someone first.”

“… Tch, are you a colleague?”

Hearing Cleon’s words, the men frowned as if they didn’t know that Illenu and Cleon were friends.

“So? What happened?’

“You don’t know when you see it? They stick to it one-sidedly and fan it out. Hey. If you need someone to talk to after drinking, can’t you go to the Asteris brothel?”

Cleon’s expression is a little subtle when the word prostitution comes out of Illenu’s mouth, but he nods his head thinking it’s the right word.

“You’re an idiot. If you follow me, I can go to the brothel and save money.”

“Besides, you say you look more voluptuous than most low-quality women in brothels… “

When he said vulgar words, it seemed as if Illenu’s patience had finally reached its end, so he took a step forward and tried to knock them all down.

“Wait, Illenu.”

However, when Cleon stops Illenu, Illenu looks back at him as if what was going on.

“What, don’t stop me. I’ll have to cut them off after knocking them all down.”

“…Because if you do that, you’ll die. It’s better to let trouble go if possible.”

“So you’re going to be patient?”

“No.”

After Cleon said that, he opened his mouth to the three people standing still.

“You guys. Do you know what kind of store is running around right now?”

“Ah? What does it matter, a shabby bar in a back alley like this.”

At those words, Cleon smiled and said ‘as expected’.

As Lionel said, young people don’t pass by here, so they didn’t seem to know what kind of store this was.

If I had known and was sane, I wouldn’t have thought of causing trouble to this store.

“This shop is run by Herti’s godfather of the Dark Dragon Company. Doing trouble with this shop is the same as disturbing the Dark Dragon Company.”

“…”

Upon hearing that, the men briefly blinked two or three times.

“What, what kind of stupid thing are you talking about, you bastard!?”

“There’s no way Herti-sama’s godfather is in a place like this!”

But, as expected, if the guys screamed as if they couldn’t believe words.

At that time, as if Cleon had been waiting behind Cleon, a cry of ‘Ya-Ong’ rang out.

“…Go, a cat? Isn’t that Mr. Hertie’s cat?”

“So, then, does that mean Herti-sama might be in here too? Could it be that what this guy said is true?!”

At the words of Cleon, who instantly gained credibility with the sound of a cat’s cry, they were confused, then stood up on the spot and quietly backed away.

Then I thought I had widened the distance, and then I ran into the alley and ran away.

Illenu stared blankly at that scene, and Cleon watched with arms crossed.

And-

“How was it, bro? The sound of my cat.”

“It was perfect. Even if you can’t see it, it runs away when you hear a cat cry. It must be quite famous.”

Cleon was nodding his head in praise of Schrödinger.

Then Illenu looked back at Cleon, and he hesitated a little about what to say-

“Thank you, Cleon.”

“No. Even if I didn’t exist, it would have been a problem you could solve… But as a part-time job, it’s better to have as few troubles as possible while working at this store. I don’t want people to get bloody in front of the store.”

“That, that kind of thing… Won’t happen. Maybe.”

She gets a little angry at Cleon’s words, but she can’t completely deny it.

“…You’ve changed as well. You, Cleon.”

“…Is it?”

“Yeah. If it was in the past, you would have beaten me with your fist too. …Is it because you became famous?”

Illenu tilts her head in disbelief and tells Cleon about it.

“…Famous?”

“Didn’t you know? You’re quite famous among adventurers now. You seem to have been active in the academy. Above all, because of the incident in the royal capital.”

Cleon scratches his head, thinking that Illenu’s words are not the fame he wanted.

Then- the flyers scattered on the ground caught my eye.

“Let’s retrieve these first. It’ll be harder to find them if they’re scattered over time.”

Looking at Cleon, who bent her waist and knees while saying that, Illenu was a little taken aback, but first, she took the same pose next to him and started picking up leaflets on the ground.

“…So? Why are you in the East? Vampire hunting?”

“It’s still in progress. Even after I broke up with you, I got rid of about two more. …I’m a fairly high-level adventurer now.”

Fame still lags behind you. Illenu grumbled.

Looking at her like that, I could see that she, too, was fighting and adventuring in this world.

But then, what naturally comes to mind is her companion who would have gone on her adventure with her.

“…Come to think of it, Illenu. What about ‘Emma’?”

“──Emma is-“

At that time, the leaflet that Cleon was trying to pick up is blown away by a strong wind.

Cleon, a little flustered, hurriedly got up from his seat and moved his foot her to grab his leaflet her-

“Pooat!”

A flying leaflet hit and stuck to a girl’s face.

“What, what!? Suddenly ahead!”

Seeing the girl panicking and trying to shake off the clinging leaflet, Cleon hurriedly approached and removed the leaflet.

Then, what appeared from the other side was a young girl wearing a kingdom-style infant outfit.

The black-haired, golden-eyed child rubbed her face with her hand as the flyer fell from her face her, then blinked at Cleon.

“…Are you okay?”

When Cleon spoke to her in the sweetest voice of hers, she nodded her head without saying a word, staring at Cleon’s face her for a bit.

Soon she saw Ile Nu standing behind Cleon and waved her hand towards him.

“Sister Illenu!”

“—Emma!? Why are you here! Don’t leave the inn…”

And—reflexively putting it in her mouth her, but at the sound of her name her, Cleon snuggles and gazes at her girl once more as her neck her slowly turns.

Hair color and eye color.

Certainly, it was the same as Emma in Cleon’s memories of her.

When Illenu looked at Cleon with an expression of ‘Oops…’, Cleon was asking the girl a question.

“Yes. Is your name Emma? By any chance, how old are you?”

“Emma, ​​she’s 6 years old!”

“──.”

Cleon did just that, and from the smile on her girlish face her, she was convinced that she was the same person as the maid Emma she knew.

“Sorry Cleon. …That’s Emma.”

“…Why did this happen…”

Emma, ​​whom he met again following Illenu, was no longer the girl in Cleon’s memory of her.

She didn’t even know she was talking about herself, and her little Emma just tilted her head and smiled.