The Hero Disciple Is Back

60. The disciple is burned in advance.

“Wow!!!!! This is so good!!!!!!”

Leah smiled brightly and ran around with all her might. She was able to run around well even in her dragon egg state, but it seems that running around in an egg state and running around on two legs are completely different.

“Be careful, you might fall.”

“Okay…! Whoa!”

… It’s scary to say… .

But to tell you the truth, what I said was wrong and what Leah said was right.

Round and round

The dragon’s protective instinct instantly created a cloud-shaped mass of magical power to protect Leah’s body.

“Hehehe”

“Really….”

I could only shake my head as if I was defeated.

Usually, when a young wizard uses his magic without knowing what he is doing, his master wizard will stop him from doing so even if it means using a whip. If he does it wrong, he could suffer from all sorts of side effects, such as magic addiction, and his wizarding career could be ruined. However, his opponent was a dragon. I was worried, so I kept checking its condition with natural mana, but it was so strong that I was embarrassed for worrying about it.

But even so, I couldn’t feel at ease.

From what I’ve heard, it seems like Leah is the last dragon and the first dragon.

White Dragon

There have been dragons of various origins and colors, but the white dragon is said to be the first. And the reason why the white dragon was able to be born is… .

‘Stella and the God of Wandering…’

It was because of the surprise gift left by the two gods and the saintess. Because of that, Rhea was born as the first white dragon, and with that power, she was able to heal me from the magic energy that was originally said to be incurable by any power. It was the result of the incredible effect created by combining the divine power left by the two gods and the saintess with the power of the dragon, a perfect being.

‘Is it a miracle from my perspective?’

Even if the two gods and the saintess left behind divine powers, would it be possible for the first being to be born just like that? If it were simply that, the white dragon should have been born long ago in the distant ancient times when both gods and dragons existed in this world.

In other words, it is clear that Rhea’s birth as a white dragon was literally the result of a series of coincidences. And we called the result of a series of coincidences occurring one after another a ‘miracle’.

“Dad~! Come in quickly!”

Is it a miracle…?

I nodded, thinking that it suited my daughter very well, and followed Leah.

“I wish I had a mom too!”

Ugh… .

Still, I felt like I had to somehow stop Sarah from calling me mom… . Since I had already tried and failed before, I didn’t feel like taking on the challenge easily.

‘But they really are like real sisters.’

Anyone who saw Leah would immediately recognize that she looked exactly like Sarah. It was fortunate that Sarah was still young… If Sarah had been at an age where she looked even slightly like a woman, it wouldn’t have been strange to mistake them for real mother and daughter. They looked so much alike.

‘The influence of prenatal education? But didn’t Leah never meet Sera while in the dragon egg state?’

Then soon I remembered how I had explained Sera in as much detail as I could when Dragon Alea showed interest by pointing to the disciple’s room.

‘Could it be because of what I said back then? That is, because of me?’

If Leah resembles Sarah because of me… .

Something is really… .

This will be a secret I don’t want Sarah to find out… .

♧♧♧

Countess Millia Gordon-Fox

When the Earl of Rolls Gordon Fox was bedridden due to poor health, she took over the management of the Gordon Fox Counts. At first, there were many voices of concern, but as she continued to increase the Earl’s wealth, those voices of concern disappeared.

She suppressed the voices of concern coming from the family with her outstanding ability and solidified her position as the head of the household. If not, the hyenas within the family would have somehow forced her to step down and devoured everything in the family. And eventually, the Gordon Fox family would have gone down the path of decline and completely fallen.

That’s why she had no regrets.

I’m talking about making a contract with the Demons.

-You are a curious contractor, Millia.

“Didn’t I tell you not to call me by my name?”

Even though it was the same woman’s voice, it was the devil’s voice that seemed to be audible and stealing the heart, and today, with strong willpower, Milia Gordon-Fox overcame it.

She couldn’t help but admit that she had underestimated the demons. She thought that if she just signed a contract and followed the terms, there would be no problems. She now knew how wrong that was. The demons were, literally, monsters with the most perfect conditions for corrupting humans. She had only realized after signing the contract that they were beings that could corrupt humans and turn them into their servants with just their voices.

That’s why I’m still holding on somehow. It was so captivating that I wanted to give it my heart.

– Hohoho. You really have a strong spirit. That’s why I feel more and more desire for you. When you become corrupted, what will you look like and what will you say when you call me? Maybe you will even speak politely and call me master?

“That will never happen.”

She whipped herself and pretended that she was okay, somehow putting on airs. She must not break down. She must not be fooled by those voices. The countess was not even ten years old yet. If her maternal family had been strong and there were many people in the family who believed in her and followed her, she would have been able to endure until she became an adult even if her husband died. Unfortunately, her maternal family was weak and there was no one on her side in the family.

It’s not that I didn’t try to make my own people. However, there are things that can’t be achieved with effort alone. Breaking the stubbornness of the purebloods and gaining recognition through effort alone was one of those cases.

In the end, no matter how hard she tried, no matter how capable she was in stabilizing the Countess’s household as a hostess, the purebloods focused all their mental energy on finding fault with her shortcomings. Even though she showed her abilities, they found fault with her for not having children, and even when she did give birth to a son, they found fault with the child’s hair and wrote hundreds of novels about it.

That’s why she couldn’t refuse the voice of the demon.

Even though I knew it wasn’t right

That couldn’t be done.

It was because she couldn’t stand to see her husband, who had lived his entire life for his family, being torn apart by those uglier people who talked about purebloods. She had no greed, no desire. All she had was a sense of duty. A sense of duty that she had to do it, that she had to protect it…

It would have been nice if it had been an angel who helped him fulfill that sense of duty, but in the end, no angel appeared, so he simply could not pretend not to hear the devil’s voice.

-But don’t you think we need to take more care of the corpse? I signed a contract to make it look like I’m alive, but I never signed a contract to take responsibility for the corpse.

“…Okay, just pay more attention.”

Every day, she applied a special medicine to her husband’s body… her husband’s corpse. It was to prevent the corpse from decaying. Her husband was already dead. However, the moment it was known that he was dead, her family would collapse. That’s why she made a contract with the demons and made it so that her husband would not appear to be dead. The more she demanded of the demons, the more bad things might happen, so she tried to reduce the terms of the contract as much as possible, and as a result, she ended up having to personally apply the medicine to her husband’s corpse with her own hands every day.

Since the Demons only ‘make it so it doesn’t look like it’, she thought that if she didn’t do this properly or faithfully, people might think her husband was dead through the smell or something else, so she couldn’t help but feel her husband’s corpse vividly with her hands every night.

“…honey….”

Suddenly, her husband’s mouth opened and his voice flowed out. At that, Milia Gordon-Fox frowned. It was as if she had been played a very unpleasant prank.

“Stop playing around.”

-Hey. I was just trying to create a cozy atmosphere. Aren’t you feeling too bad? Hahaha.

And, like the devil, he plays such ugly pranks.

That was when.

“I guess you’re on good terms with the demon girl?”

“… … ?!”

-… … ?!

It wasn’t just Milia Gordon-Fox. Even the Demons were confused. Even though she was born as a noblewoman and lived as a noble wife, she had not trained her senses, so it was not strange for her not to notice the approach, but the Demons were not.

It was because the Demons could sense the energy of living beings as a characteristic of their race. Just as beasts track their prey with their sense of smell, the Demons could not help but sense the presence of humans, who were no different from their prey, no matter how well they hid them. Since the Demons sensed humans with their souls, they were able to sense them no matter how great their hiding skills were.

That’s something the demons didn’t feel.

“Who are you!”

Millia Gordon-Fox shouted on purpose, hoping that the Knights would respond to her voice. But the intruder was just relaxed.

“It’s no use making a sound. I’ve already created a barrier.”

At that moment, a huge amount of magical power emanated from the intruder’s body. The moment the demon felt it, he realized.

-brave?!

“I guess word has already spread about me?”

The demon was flustered and tried to cut off the contractor’s connection. However, there was no way the warrior of infinite return would miss it.

Shuang!

Sarah’s sword, which had been pulled out in an instant, cut through the air.

-Gyaaa …

The helpless screams of the demons spread all around, and soon silence came. At the same time, Count Gordon Fox’s body began to lose its black energy, leaving only skeletons.

“no!!!!”

Millia Gordon-Fox screamed and tried to do something, but there was nothing she could do, so in the end, only bones remained.

“No… Please! No! There is still no help from the Demons in my house….”

“Wouldn’t it be better not to do that?”

“yes?”

“You don’t think the Demons are just helpers who work there according to the terms of the contract, do you?”

“What is that…?”

“What do you think happened to my husband’s soul?”

“Well… .”

Millia Gordon-Fox assumed that his soul had naturally departed for Heaven. The demon had told her so. So…

“Just because the Demons faithfully keep their contracts doesn’t mean they don’t lie.”

“…no way?!”

“His soul was still tied to that corpse. As I saw earlier, the demons made him speak.”

Sarah declared the truth to Milia Gordon-Fox, who was trying to deny reality by saying that it couldn’t be true.

“That’s really what your husband said.”

“… That. That can’t be! That can’t be!!!”

“Screaming won’t change reality.”

As she said this, Sarah stabbed her right hand with a knife.

Phew!

“Gyaaahh …

“Be patient. Only by completely breaking the contract can your husband’s soul leave.”

“Ugh!”

Hearing that, Millia Gordon-Fox bit her lip to endure the pain. Then, soon, a black sentence emerged from the back of Millia’s right hand, then shattered into pieces and disappeared into a dust of light.

At the same time, Milia Gordon-Fox could see her husband’s soul smiling down at her as it disappeared.

“sighe….”

“He must have been a good person. He must have smiled at you even after doing that.”

“Ahhh!”

“I will heal you, but I will leave a scar. Look at it and remember the sins you committed.”

Once a Demon Contractor has tasted the contract once, there is a high probability that he will make another contract. That is why, from a certain point on, the Hero of Infinite Return always leaves a trace after breaking the contract with the Demon Contractor. This is so that he can always remember to never make another Demon Contract.

“… Thank you. Warrior! Thank you very much!”

“You don’t need to be thankful. I will pay you back with my labor.”

“… What do you mean?”

“It’s true that you are very capable. I will do my best for the royal family so that you can continue to work as the deputy head of the household.”

There was no noble who did not know that the warrior Sera was close to the crown prince, the center of power in the current empire. If the crown prince was behind him, there was no way that the position of the head of the family would be shaken.

“Thank you! For your loyalty…!”

“That’s okay. Just pay me back with your achievements.”

If the temple had discovered her, it was obvious that the temple would have tried to burn the demon contractor, Millia Gordon-Fox, as a witch, and in fact, there were several such futures. However, in a situation where even one precious person was needed, the human race was not in a position to burn someone who had not fallen to the demon and given information, so Sera could not let it be.

“And that b*tch’s face was left with burns that were incomparable to those scars. I hope that helps.”

In fact, the real reason Sarah got involved in this wasn’t just to avoid losing the talent called Millia Gordon Fox. There was a limit to opening a dimensional gate and launching an attack towards it. A more direct and sure way to strike was to attack using the contract with the Demon Contractor.

As long as a contract is made, the demons of the Demon World and the humans of the Human World are connected. In other words, if you attack using that connection while they are directly and strongly connected, it is possible to directly hit the demons of the Demon World.

The demon that Millia Gordon-Fox made a contract with was the first stone, the ‘Prostitute of Temptation’ Babylinia, a ruthless demon who used her ability to seduce and corrupt people to create countless traitors to humanity, putting humanity in danger.

Originally, her beautiful face should have corrupted all human males the moment they saw it, but that will no longer be possible.

It was because I had just transferred the magic directly into the contract’s connection flow earlier. Since I had sent it with the power of the white dragon I received from Leah, it was inevitable that a burn would occur that could not be treated even if I wanted to. And Sera had carefully controlled it so that it would appear on her face.

‘Because they might target the teacher.’

I don’t think the Master would give in to the temptation of the Demon Tribe and fall for it, but it can’t hurt to be careful.

Originally, it was something that was put off until later because Millia Gordon-Fox’s strong willpower prevented her from being easily corrupted, but when Sera found out that the Demon King’s army had crossed over to the human world and attacked even though the Demon King had not yet descended, she couldn’t just leave that damn demon b*tch like Babylinia alone.

‘It’s better to clean up the dirty stuff in advance.’

To her, the demon girl who might have defiled her master’s heart was nothing more than trash to be burned.