I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 18

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Paving the Path for My Uncle Has Turned Me Into a Hero – Episode 18
Six-year-old Leo appeared.
“Waaah….”
Leo was crying.
With a hard, stale crust of bread wedged into his small mouth instead of warm, fresh loaves, tears streamed down his cheeks in steady drops.
“Uncle… sob… Uncle….”
The dining table that should have held the two of them sharing a cheerful meal sat with one chair conspicuously empty.
That seat belonged to Alex—to the dead.
‘Leo….’
As a ghost, Alex could only watch Leo from afar. He could not touch him, could not speak to him.
“Uncle… I miss you…. Come back home…. I’m scared….”
Days had passed—he’d lost count. With puffy, swollen eyes, Leo simply cried and cried.
“I don’t… like being alone….”
With no one to comfort him, no one to soothe him, the six-year-old boy left alone in this world barely ate and wailed—”Waaaaaah!”—without end.
‘Leo, don’t cry! Uncle is here!’
But there was no voice to reach him, no hand that could brush away those tears. Each time his hand passed through Leo’s face, Alex’s heart plummeted.
‘Let’s go to Mark’s house, Leo. We’ll get you something warm to eat… You have to be strong….’
Even Alex, barely twenty years old, spoke through his own tears.
In the days following Alex’s funeral, Leo—who had barely managed to eat—grew worse.
“Uncle…. It’s because of me… I’m… I’m….”
Waaaaaah!
The house that once echoed with laughter now held nothing but Leo’s sobs.
‘No, Leo. This isn’t your fault….’
Alex continued to speak through his tears.
“Leo!”
Just then the door burst open, and an urgent voice cried out.
“Uncle?!”
Leo spun around with joy at the voice, reflexively calling out for his uncle—but the moment he saw Mark’s face, he only wept all the harder.
It was not his uncle.
His uncle would never come home again.
Because he was dead.
Mark quickly embraced Leo, his hand gentle against the boy’s back.
“I told you not to stay here alone. Come stay at my place.”
“But… Uncle might… might come back….”
Mark’s expression darkened as Leo spoke through his sobs.
“Alex won’t be coming home anymore….”
“No… no, he will…. Uncle will always be… with me….”
Even as Leo spoke these words, he could not deny reality.
When he cried like this, his uncle’s gentle hands no longer came to soothe him, and he wept without end.
‘Leo, don’t cry.’
The ghost Alex’s hand reached out over small Leo’s back.
But it could not touch him.
‘…Uncle is here.’
Alex’s desperate hand stretched toward Leo’s swollen eyes.
But once again, it could not reach.
‘I’m right beside you….’
「Let me touch you. Please.」

* * *
Seven-year-old Leo appeared.
A year had passed since Alex’s death, and Leo seemed to have grown accustomed to the emptiness his uncle left behind.
By day he played with friends; at mealtime he ate at Mark’s house next door.
Mark and his family treated him with such warmth and care, as though he were their youngest son—no trace of inconvenience in their manner.
They also tended well to the fields and house that now belonged to Leo.
“You understand, Leo? You don’t just sign contracts carelessly. If someone comes asking for your house documents or land papers, you come straight to me or the village headman first, and we’ll sort it out later. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mark!”
The village headman and the elders all looked after Leo with great kindness.
“Leo, I picked these wild fruits from the mountains. Take them and share them with your friends.”
“Thank you so much!”
Watching this, the ghost Alex felt reassured at last.
‘I’m so grateful to all of you….’
There was nothing else he could say.
And so Leo’s circumstances seemed to be improving.
But unfortunately, that was only true during the day.
“I’m home, Uncle….”
When night fell, Leo would return to the house where he’d lived with his uncle and sleep there. No matter what Mark or the village elders said, he wouldn’t listen.
Every night, Leo would come back to the house—immaculate, not a speck of dust, yet utterly empty and forlorn.
Then he would lie in the bed where he and his uncle had slept together.
He buried himself beneath the cold blankets and lay there in silence, hoping to feel some lingering warmth his uncle had left behind.
“Hngh….”
And then the tears came.
Not the wailing sobs of a six-year-old, but silent tears that slipped down his cheeks.
“Uncle… I miss you….”
He buried his face in the blankets as if pressing it against his uncle’s warm chest, but all he felt was cold.
“Why… why did you leave me alone…. Sniff. You said you’d always be with me….”
Watching Leo cry quietly, Alex’s heart felt as though it were tearing apart.
He was only seven years old.
An age when he should have been loved only by his parents and family.
But Leo had no one.
‘…Leo. Don’t cry.’
Alex himself broke into tears.
‘Uncle is here….’
But the hot tears, the gentle hands—none of it reached seven-year-old Leo.
‘Uncle is always beside you. He’s watching over you.’
The voice, trembling and full of affection, could not be heard.
「Please. Hear me.」

* * *
Eight-year-old Leo appeared in the scene.
Leo was heading toward the fields with a hoe he’d taken from the storage shed slung across his shoulder.
‘Leo! Where are you going? Why are you carrying the hoe?’
Alex was beside him, but Leo couldn’t hear.
“Leo! Where are you headed?”
“Let’s go play on our mountain!”
The village children came running and circled around Leo.
“I’m going to the fields!”
Leo’s face, no longer stained with tears, beamed with a bright smile.
“Why the fields?”
“I want to learn farming from the adults.”
“Farming?”
“All of a sudden?”
Like the village children, Alex stared at Leo with a look of surprise.
“Yeah! It’s our family’s field, so I need to learn how to tend it quickly.”
Alex’s mouth hung open for a moment before he managed to speak, watching eight-year-old Leo’s determined expression.
‘But Leo. You’re only eight years old.’
Eight years old.
An age when play mattered far more than work.
‘The field is being taken care of by Mr. Mark and the village elders, so don’t worry. Go play with your friends.’
Alex resented himself for being dead.
Why had he gone up the Back Mountain that day? Why had he taken that particular path? Why had he—why had he died?
“Since Uncle took such care with that field. He’d be happy to see it.”
What had turned this young child into someone grown?
‘You kids. Tell Leo to come play with us. Want to go fishing? Or maybe see the horses?’
Alex tried to coax the children, but none of them could hear him.
The village children, who had been glancing at each other at Leo’s words, soon spoke up.
“Then we’ll come with you!”
“Yeah, let’s learn farming too!”
The children giggled and laughed. Leo’s face lit up with a broad smile in return.
‘You too…!’
Alex wiped his face with his hands.
Aren’t they all too good-natured? At their age, they should be playing around.
Leo and his friends chattered away as they headed toward the field together.
When they arrived at the field, they saw adults working.
After hearing Leo’s story, Mark and the adults tried to shoo him away, telling him to go play instead, but Leo stubbornly insisted on staying in the field.
“Sigh, just for a little while, then?”
“Yes!”
Unable to overcome his stubbornness, Mark taught him something simple. Leo listened to the explanation with a serious expression, dirt clinging to his small hands.
‘Leo, you don’t have to do this.’
Alex stood before Leo, trying to stop him.
But he was not seen.
「Let me see. Please.」

* * *
A ten-year-old Leo came into view.
The healthy, growing ten-year-old Leo was in the Study Room.
“That’s it! Basic Swordsmanship!”
It seemed he wanted to learn the sword.
“First, how to grip the sword.”
Leo carefully touched Alex’s Sword that lay to one side, then shook his head and took the Wooden Sword that Mark had made for him and a book out to the Backyard.
“Like this?”
Though he was holding a sword for the first time, Leo did it remarkably well. Both his downward strikes and sweeps were textbook perfect.
‘Our Leo! The best!’
Alex clapped loudly in applause.
‘That’s right. Do it like that. Spread your feet a bit wider, and hold the sword lightly! But not so loosely that you lose control.’
Alex relayed to Leo what his older sister and brother-in-law had taught him.
“Is it not?”
Leo could not hear him.
Tilting his head in confusion as he read the Basic Swordsmanship Manual, Alex’s expression grew bitter.
“Ha ha!”
Then Leo’s laughter rang out. It was tinged with moisture somehow.
Drawing closer to look, Alex found writing he had left in the Basic Swordsmanship Manual.
-This is so hard… What does this even mean.
-I have no idea. What should we eat this evening?
Ha ha! At Leo’s laughter, Alex coughed awkwardly. He remembered scribbling these notes while studying alone from the book, grumbling to himself.
“Let’s practice more.”
Ten-year-old Leo swung his sword, his blue eyes sparkling.
But the grip was weak, and the Wooden Sword flew from his hands. A branch that had been lying in the Backyard was knocked by the Wooden Sword and flew toward Leo.
‘No!’
Alex stepped in front of Leo to block him.
But the branch, having no substance, passed through Alex and struck Leo’s arm as he shielded his face.
“Ouch!”
Fortunately, the branch was small and thin, so Leo was not badly hurt.
‘Are you all right, Leo? Does it hurt? I’m sorry. I tried to block it….’
Alex wept, feeling the helplessness of being unable to stop even a single branch.
‘I’m sorry, Leo….’
All he could do was follow Leo to get treated.
「Stop it. Please.」

* * *
A sixteen-year-old Leo came into view.
Two years away from adulthood, Leo had returned from hunting a wild boar.
“What?! You caught a wild boar!”
“Wow! Leo caught a wild boar!”
“You! You reckless boy!”
Leo burst out laughing—ha ha ha!—dodging the astonished village adults, his cheering friends, and Mark’s thick palm swinging down to slap his back.
‘Do you know how amazing our Leo was, sir? The wild boar came charging, he dodged left and right, and then—with just one swing of his sword—squeal! Down it went!’
Alex chattered excitedly as well.
Of course, just moments before, when Leo said he was going into the mountains,
‘No! It’s dangerous! Absolutely not! Your uncle won’t allow it! Leo, don’t go! Don’t go! Your uncle will collapse right here! I’ll just collapse!’
he had completely forgotten he’d been shouting those things.
“Let me change clothes first and I’ll be right back.”
“Of course! We’ll get the boar cleaned up while you’re gone!”
Leo, speaking with a grin, turned toward the house, carrying his uncle’s sword—the blade that had cleaved through the wild boar in a single stroke.
Alex, who had been following Leo with excitement in his eyes, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
‘Ah….’
Somewhere along the way, Leo had grown tall.
He’d become skilled at farming, could read difficult books without stumbling, wielded the sword well enough to hunt wild boar, and had even begun to command a little Divine Power.
And he no longer cried at night.
‘He’ll be all right now.’
Alex watched the receding figure of sixteen-year-old Leo—dignified, spirited, healthy, and reassuring in his bearing.
‘You’ve grown so well, our Leo.’
Alex smiled broadly.
For some reason, it felt as though he could disappear now without regret.
That was when it happened.
Leo, who had been walking steadily, suddenly came to a halt.
His gaze fixed on something in the distance.
Alex turned to follow Leo’s line of sight. There lay Leo’s field.
Alex wondered if Leo was worried about the crops.
“…Uncle….”
A voice so small it seemed to drift on the wind reached his ears.
Alex stiffened, his eyes snapping to Leo’s face.
“….”
He could see Leo’s expression clearly.
It was the same face as always, yet to his uncle’s eyes, everything was visible—the glistening sky-blue eyes and the lips pressed tightly shut.
Leo was holding back tears, holding back sorrow, holding back longing.
As he looked at the field where his uncle had worked.
“…I miss you.”
Those murmured words struck Alex like thunder, and suddenly he was alert, present, aware.
‘Damn! What do you mean I can disappear without regret? Leo misses me! He’s still so young! I have to look after him!’
Even if unseen and unheard, Alex could not leave Leo alone.
He rushed to Leo’s side at once.
‘Our Leo! Uncle’s right here! Don’t worry! I’ll always be by your side!’
But again, his words did not reach.
Leo stood quietly for a moment, blinking several times, then turned back toward the house as though nothing had happened.
‘…Don’t be lonely, Leo.’
「Let this reach him. Please.」

* * *
A few days later.
At sixteen, Leo left the Village to find his parents and help those in need, beginning his adventure.
He met companions on unfamiliar roads and grew through countless trials and hardships.
And several months after that.
The Lord Solenius, unable to bear watching lives slip away any longer, bestowed a divine revelation, and Leo, drawing forth the Holy Sword, was acknowledged as a Hero.
Thus the Hero Leo Solenius began fighting in earnest against the Demon King.
‘Leo!’
And there, too, was his uncle, Alex.
‘Monsters behind that brush! Looks like they’re about to attack! Five days straight and they still won’t tire!’
‘Damn! These bastards poisoned the supplies! Leo, don’t eat! None of you!’
‘Priest! Priest! Where are you?! Leo’s arm is severed! Get over here and fix it!’
‘Leo, don’t those two seem like they’re together? Wait, I thought you two weren’t on good terms? What’s going on?’
‘That damned Lich! It showed up again! Why won’t this thing die?! Where’s the Life Vessel!’
Unseen, unheard, untouched.
Yet always at Leo’s side.
「It’s okay!」「Danger!」「Heal now!」「Show yourself!」「Block it!」「Don’t cry….」「Die!」「Dodge!」「Run!」「I’m right here.」「Be careful!」「You can do it!」「Take the hit!」「Don’t worry.」「Smile for me….」
「…Please.」
「Just once.」
「Let me help Leo….」
Wishing with such desperate longing, again and again.
And finally.
After twelve years, for the first time, he blocked an attack, and their eyes met—those sky-blue eyes he had so desperately missed.
“…Uncle?”
Just before Leo died.
‘Leo!!’
But it lasted only an instant.
Then the light vanished, and as Leo’s eyes closed forever, Alex plunged into despair. He fractured. He raged. He screamed.
And he wished with everything in him.
As he always had, for twelve long years.
‘I wanted to make him happy….’
And now this.
…Again?
“…Gasp!”
A heavy weight pressed down on his chest, and Alex’s eyes snapped open. There, meeting his gaze, were the sky-blue eyes he’d longed for.
Those sky-blue eyes widened into perfect circles.
“Uncle!”
It was Leo.
Six-year-old Leo, with rosy cheeks and soft golden hair.
“Uncle was crying, so I woke you up!”
“Huh? What?”
At Leo’s words—the boy now sitting on his chest—Alex, still half-dazed, reached up and touched his eyes. His fingertips came away wet.
“Did you have a scary dream, Uncle?”
“…Yes. A frightening dream. A sorrowful one.”
It had been so terrifying, so heartbreaking, so utterly powerless—a dream he never wanted to endure again.
At Leo’s worried expression, Alex grinned and tickled the boy’s sides.
“But since Leo woke me up, everything’s fine now!”
“Hehehehe!”
Hearing Leo’s laughter, Alex burst into his own.
That was a vanished future.
This was real.
A reality in which the future could be changed.
[Lucky!]
[So, shall we go eat now?]
[Food!]
…Read the room, you cursed Lich.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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