W

C632 - Why?

Hearing this, Sael was stunned for a moment before she sighed and sat back down again.

"To think…" She mumbled to herself. "This was the real cause of all this trouble but you weren't even aware of it."

Sael kept shaking her head as Leonel waited patiently. It seemed he had much more fortitude than she did.

"The Heir Trials are the reason we were so cautious with you." Sael finally looked up. "In fact, the Heir Trials are the only reason we even know of your existence in the first place.

"Usually, Seventh Dimensional organizations are way too far out of our reach. As far as we know, they're the pinnacle of the universe. But then again, that's just our limited knowledge. There might very well be an Eighth or even Ninth Dimensional existence, maybe even Tenth… We have no way of knowing.

"However, our Valiant Heart Mountain has records of your Morales family's Heir Trials because of how unique they are. I stumbled upon a record of one of our ancestors from several generations ago. According to him, he got the chance to participate as a friend of one someone who, I assume, is one of your Ancestors.

"He speaks of this experience as being one of his fortuitous encounters and it's even because of this that we were able to lay claim to 70% of the Valiant Heart World. In the past, we barely had control of even 20%."

Leonel continued to listen quietly.

"That said… While the ancestor said this had been a great opportunity, it was simultaneously a terrible thing as well. If all he received was benefits, let alone 70%, even 100% of the Valiant Heart world would be in our hands.

"Don't look down on this. Valiant Heart has the potential to enter the Sixth Dimension. In fact, if it wasn't for particular struggles we face, we might have cleared enough Zones to do so already. Having full control of this world would be a great boon for us. Unfortunately… we couldn't.

"Do you know why?"

Leonel didn't respond. Obviously, he didn't.

"Participating in the Heir Trials might have given us great benefits, but we were ultimately just canon fodder, too weak to make a large difference.

"The memoire made it sound like our ancestor participated alone, but in the end, he explained the whole truth. It wasn't just him but tens of thousands of our fellow Valiant Heart disciples. And yet…

"He was the only one who came back alive."

Leonel's gaze sharpened. Such a high death total?

"In truth, our ancestor almost died as well. He was lucky to come back alone."

Sael sighed. "That year, there had only been two candidates for the Heir Trials and the one our ancestor sided with lost.

"Despite the fact there were just two, the carnage was unimaginable. Of course, the Heir themselves always survive to the end, but what about the people under them?"

Sael looked up to meet Leonel's gaze.

"My Valiant Heart Mountain is too small to get involved in such conflicts."

Leonel paused.

"So the reason you've stayed at arms length is because you don't want to owe me any favors."

"Nothing in the Dimensional Verse comes free." Sael replied. "If we used your help to solve our problems, it would be impossible to refuse your help in the future. The rage of a Seventh Dimensional existence isn't something that we can afford to bear…"

"I see." Leonel nodded. "But now that you know I'm not affiliated with the Morales family, at least not in any important capacity, you're hopeful that I will be able to help you now without asking for anything in return later?"

Sael bit her lip hard, but eventually nodded.

"Mm…"

Leonel nodded, looking out the window of the restaurant.

Down below, the streets were quite clean and orderly, a far cry from the freshman quarters. Everything seemed prim and proper. There was just a single thing out of place… A picture stapled to a pole light that carried the face of someone easily recognizable, having the words Leo the Cuck written across the top.

Leonel didn't react much to seeing this caricature of himself. Why would he? By now, he had already seen hundreds of them plastered everywhere.

"… So what you mean is that you expect me to help as a student of Valiant Heart Mountain and for nothing more, is that right?"

Leonel didn't look back toward Sael, but he could tell that she had nodded.

"And I assume that, as a student, the reason I would want to do this is because I should feel a sense of comradery and hominess from this place, is that also right?"

Sael nodded, biting her lip harder.

Leonel looked back toward Sael, his indifferent gaze causing her heart to shudder.

Leonel's life wasn't as simple as it seemed on the surface. After all, he had spent most of his childhood going to school with those he thought had far higher standing than himself. Back then, he had no idea he was a prince. So, all he saw was himself, a commoner, facing an entire class of nobles, each one with a nose arched higher than the other.

One might wonder, then, how it was that Leonel had managed to go from that reality to suddenly becoming a celebrity everyone greeted on campus. Let alone being bullied, everyone seemed to love him.

Obviously, this wasn't because everyone at Royal Blue Academy happened to have kind hearts. What kind of ridiculous statement was that? There was no such thing as pure goodness or pure evil. This was why Leonel always found the notion of light versus darkness to be so asinine.

In Leonel's opinion, the youths of Royal Blue Academy were no better nor worse than the youths of Valiant Heart, or any organization he had been in for that matter. In fact, in Leonel's mind, the only difference between that organization and these ones was that he hadn't spent very long in any of the latter.

So what was the answer?

Obviously, he beat them into submission. He defeated them one after another, so harshly and so resoundingly that they could only smile when they saw him, fearing that he would turn around and crush them again.

In the past, Leonel had used academics, sports and a sharp tongue to achieve this effect.

But in this world, the only thing he could use was his fist.

"Mm. Then why is it, exactly, that I don't feel that way at all?"

To be continued