I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 28

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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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My Cousin Paved the Path to Flowers and Became a Hero — Episode 28
After lunch.
Alex pulled out a Lowest-Grade Magic Stone and a pouch of Paralysis Powder.
He showed the Lowest-Grade Magic Stone to Leo first.
“A Lowest-Grade Magic Stone!”
“That’s right. But this one’s a little different. Your uncle made this one. Later, if Leo ever gets lost, this magic tool will help your uncle find you.”
“A magic tool?!”
Wow!
Leo’s eyes went perfectly round.
“And even if a bad person tries to take Leo away, your uncle can find you as long as you have this.”
At Alex’s serious expression, Leo’s cute face grew solemn too, and he nodded gravely.
“You told me never to follow strangers.”
He’d heard plenty from the Village elders about wicked people who kidnapped children.
“How do you use it, Uncle? Can I use it?”
A magic tool—that was thrilling.
Seeing Leo’s bright, curious eyes, Alex smiled and explained.
“If you squeeze it in your hand and put force into it, the magic stone will break. And if you keep holding it, your uncle can follow that stone and find you. Try breaking it now.”
Leo listened carefully to Alex’s explanation, grasped the Lowest-Grade Magic Stone, and squeezed hard.
The delicate stone wavered on the edge of shattering before it cracked with a sharp snap.
“Uncle, look! It broke!”
“Well done. Now if you keep holding this, your uncle will come after you.”
“I just have to hold it?”
“Yes. You can hold it in your hand, and if it gets tiring, you can put it in your pocket. You can even put it in your shoe. As long as you keep it with you, that’s all that matters.”
“Okay.”
Leo nodded and gazed down at the shattered stone in his palm with a slightly disappointed expression.
“I thought it would burst with a bang like a fireworks spell.”
[That’s possible too. A flare!]
[Let’s make one later!]
Ignoring Baek’s chatter, Alex showed Leo the Dirt Pouch and the Paralysis Powder pouch. The cloth was a different color to tell them apart easily.
“What’s this, Uncle?”
Leo asked, his face full of curiosity.
“This pouch is filled with Paralysis Powder. Later, when your uncle has to work and isn’t around, Leo will be alone sometimes, right?”
“Yes.”
Leo had already experienced being separated from Alex when he went to the Northern Dungeon, though Sophia had stayed with him.
“If a bad person or a scary animal comes at times like that, it would be dangerous, wouldn’t it?”
Leo nodded.
“That’s when you throw it. If they get hit with Paralysis Powder, they can’t move. First, you open the pouch like this to make the powder easy to spill out.”
Leo watched intently as Alex demonstrated.
“Then you aim carefully at your target and throw it as hard as you can, like this.”
Alex made a throwing motion toward a tree.
“You try, Leo.”
“Okay! I’ll try!”
As Leo reached out his hand, he noticed the powder from the broken magic stone still clinging to his palm.
“Oh! But what do I do about this, Uncle?”
“Just brush it off.”
Leo clapped his hands together, shaking off the powder from the Lowest-Grade Magic Stone.
Then he took the Dirt Pouch, opened its mouth as Alex had shown him, and hurled it toward the tree with all his might.
Since it was his first try, he didn’t hit the tree, but the pouch fell just in front of it with a soft thud, and the dirt inside scattered up into the air.
“Good job, Leo! You don’t need a direct hit—landing near the target is enough. Let’s try once more.”
Alex handed Leo another Dirt Pouch he’d prepared.
“Hiyah!”
Leo threw with all his strength at the tree. This time, the pouch hit the tree squarely, and dirt poured out from the opening.
“Excellent!”
[Succeeding on the second try—his athletic ability is impressive.]
[He could even play baseball.]
[Truly a future Hero!]
Alex picked up the two Dirt Pouches that had fallen and handed them back to Leo.
“From now on, whenever you have time, let’s practice throwing.”
“Okay, Uncle.”
Rather than training, it felt like a fun game, and Leo’s eyes sparkled with delight as he clutched a Dirt Pouch firmly in each hand.
“The Paralysis Powder is too dangerous—I’ll give it to you later.”
“Got it!”
Leo answered brightly and began practicing throwing the two Dirt Pouches with a whish-whish motion.
In the meantime, Alex tried using his Mana Detection ability.
He could feel the vivid traces of green mana lingering where Leo had shattered the Magic Stone.
Since the mana wasn’t liquid, he sensed it hanging in the air rather than on the ground—a strange and wondrous feeling.
“So I just have to follow it, right?”
[That’s right. It should be easy to find.]
The mana traces remaining so clearly were impossible to miss, just as Baek had said.
[But it’ll fade over time, so you need to find it as quickly as you can.]
Alex nodded.
After enjoying some practice and play beneath the tree, Alex and Leo climbed back onto the cart.
“Let’s go!”
Leo shouted with a gleeful laugh, and Max whinnied in response. This made both Alex and Baek burst out laughing.
It was a peaceful afternoon.

* * *
After eating his fill and playing to his heart’s content, Leo spread out a blanket and took a nap. During that time, Alex learned Water magic from Baek.
The plan was to practice magic while traveling by cart, and Sword Arts in the mornings and evenings.
[This is easy too. Just imagine water like you did with Fire. Cold, transparent water. And since it’s liquid, it flows.]
Alex listened to Baek’s explanation and pictured water. That was easy—it was something he drank every day and needed for bathing.
[The Incantation is “Water.”]
Mana flowed from the Circle in his heart and traveled along his Mana Circuit, moving toward Alex’s palm.
“Water.”
As Alex spoke the Incantation, a round droplet of water appeared above his hand.
The droplet gleamed, reflecting the sunlight.
[You got it on the first try, as expected!]
[Let’s try variations too.]
[Just like Fireball, you can create Water Ball by making it nice and round.]
“But isn’t it already round like this?”
The Water that appeared now was already round.
[You need to compress it more.]
Alex compressed the water droplet above his hand as Baek instructed. The water’s color deepened to a richer blue.
[And like when you attacked the Goblin Shaman, you can create an elongated arrow and shoot it. That’s called Water Arrow.]
As Alex listened to Baek’s explanation, he moved the water droplet through the air in different directions. He also changed its shape. It wasn’t particularly difficult.
Baek, an otherworldly Lich, marveled at this.
[All those twelve years of effort in the future are paying off.]
While Alex practiced water magic and gathered mana into his Circle using the Mana Cultivation Method, Max—the gentle and clever horse—clop-clopped steadily along the road.
Some time had passed.
Leo woke from his nap and sat beside Alex, watching the water droplets from his water magic practice with sparkling eyes.
Alex smiled and brought the droplets to Leo’s cheeks and hands. Leo giggled at the cool sensation.
“Uncle! I want to learn magic too!”
That probably wouldn’t be possible, would it?
Users of Holy Power couldn’t use magic or sword energy. Instead, they used Holy Magic and Holy Sword Technique.
‘Leo will definitely awaken Holy Power just like in the future.’
That wasn’t something one could prevent.
It was power bestowed by God himself, after all.
So unlike magic or sword energy, Holy Power manifested on its own without anyone teaching it.
Which meant what Alex had to do was defeat the Demon King before Leo awakened as a Hero.
In any case.
The conclusion was that Leo, who would become a user of Holy Power, couldn’t learn magic.
‘Though he’ll be able to use Holy Magic.’
The water and fire magic that Leo wanted to create was impossible.
Still, since Leo wanted to learn, it seemed worth trying. Life needed failure sometimes, after all.
“Sure. Uncle will teach you.”
“Yay! This is so exciting!!”
[Oh! Teaching a future Hero!]
[This should be fun.]
Baek, still unaware of how Holy Power related to magic in this world, was delighted as he thought about how to teach the future Hero.
“But you might not be able to learn magic.”
“Why?”
Leo, who had been brimming with anticipation, tilted his head.
“Some people can learn magic, and some can’t. Like how Jessie is good at knitting but Mark isn’t.”
“…I see. But can I learn magic, Uncle?”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
Leo nodded in understanding, though a hint of disappointment lingered on his face.
“If you can’t learn magic, I’ll teach you Sword Arts instead.”
Sword Arts!
Leo’s sky-blue eyes sparkled.
“Really?!”
“Really.”
“Yay!”
Magic was wonderful, but Sword Arts was wonderful too.
Leo had always watched eagerly whenever Uncle practiced in the yard.
He’d longed to swing a blade like Uncle did—whoosh, whoosh—but they’d said he was still too young. Yet now he could actually learn it!
“This is amazing! Sword Arts!”
Leo threw both arms up in triumph.
“But you have to study letters first.”
“Ugh!”
Leo looked up at Alex with pleading eyes, but Alex merely laughed.
“Learning letters will come in handy. You’ll be able to write letters to your friends, and you can read the Fairy Tale Book that Arden gave you as a gift.”
Soft as Alex was toward Leo, he would not yield on the matter of education.
[Leo. Give up.]
[Your uncle will make you do it no matter what.]
Baek chuckled as he spoke. Leo, of course, heard nothing.
“…All right. I’ll study.”
Leo sighed quietly but nodded. He disliked studying, but he understood that letters were important.
And the thought of writing letters to his friends appealed to him.
Alex began by teaching him five letters.
To keep Leo interested, he paired each letter with his favorite words.
“This one is the letter that starts ‘bag.’ This one is ‘butterfly.’ This one is ‘squirrel.’ This one is ‘lilac.’ And this one is ‘magic!'”
Leo copied the five letters that Alex had written onto paper.
[It just looks like drawing pictures.]
Looking at what Leo had sketched—whether it was letters or pictures remained a mystery—both Baek and Alex burst out laughing.

* * *
As the sun began to set, Alex surveyed the surroundings and settled beneath a tree a short distance from the road. The traces of a campfire suggested that people often stayed here.
Moreover, when he used Mana Detection, he sensed no dangerous animals nearby—only grass, trees, and insects—so it was safe.
“Leo, you can get down now.”
At Alex’s word, Leo jumped down from the cart. Alex untied Max’s reins.
“Are we sleeping here tonight, Uncle?”
“Yes. We’ll build a fire and sleep here.”
“Yay!”
[A campfire!]
Watching Leo and Baek’s delight, Alex grinned widely.
“All right, let’s go gather some firewood, Leo. Do you know what makes good kindling?”
“Of course! Dry wood burns well.”
Leo answered briskly—he’d gathered firewood with other children in the Village before.
“Don’t go far. Just search around here.”
“Got it. I’ll find lots, Uncle.”
As Alex gathered kindling, he kept an eye on Leo’s whereabouts. Then it occurred to him that there was one more thing he needed.
“Is there something like an Alarm spell?”
It would be useful to have a spell that could warn them if any dangerous person or animal approached.
Something like what the Hero Brave Warrior Leo’s party had used in the ‘future.’
[Of course there is.]
[The Incantation is “Alarm.”]
[Picture the Mana forming into a long line. When an intruder touches or crosses the line, a bell rings.]
As Baek spoke, Alex visualized a long line of Mana and a bell attached to it, then spoke the Incantation.
“Alarm.”
A pale green line of Mana appeared in the empty air.
Alex pondered where to install the Mana Detection lines.
“But what if someone just walks right through without touching it? Doesn’t the spell need to be triggered by contact?”
[That’s why it’s a 1-Circle spell.]
[As you gain more Circles, you can set up more lines. Then you’ll be able to create them at regular intervals from head height all the way down to the ground.]
[Like a laser security system in a spy movie!]
Alex let Baek’s incomprehensible comparison wash over him with practiced ease.
[Once you have more Circles, you could even wrap the entire campsite in a dome formation. Even if someone tried to infiltrate from above, you’d know immediately.]
The Alarm spell Alex wanted was that sort of magic, but at 1-Circle, it was beyond his reach for now.
Though he’d reach 2-Circle soon enough.
For the moment, he’d installed the lines lower down, where animals and people moving about would easily brush against them.
“Uncle, I’ve gathered all the firewood!”
As Alex was setting up Alarm spells here and there, Leo came bounding over with an excited grin.
His arms were full of dry twigs, but scattered among them were flowers, pebbles, and all manner of odds and ends.
Clearly he’d been having the time of his life.

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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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