I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 4

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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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Becoming a Hero by Paving the Path with Cousin Flowers – Episode 004
“That was really delicious!”
Leo patted his satisfied belly with a contented smile, and Alex couldn’t help but laugh at how adorable he looked.
[It really was delicious….]
[Alex. Next time let’s try a different cut.]
[This one had a bit less fat.]
Alex had grown quite accustomed to ignoring Ibek’s voice, which came to him like static noise, and opened his mouth.
“Leo, go wash up and get ready for bed now.”
He couldn’t quite remember the last time he’d said something like this.
In the ‘Future,’ Leo had cried so much he’d barely eaten the meals the neighbors brought him before falling asleep.
“Okay!”
At Leo’s cheerful response, Alex felt tears welling up.
[So this kid was obsessed with his uncle, huh.]
Though it was his first time hearing the phrase, Alex somehow understood what Ibek meant—and let it go in one ear and out the other as he prepared to wash up.
He felt exhausted, perhaps from everything that had happened today.
The battle with the Demon King. Leo’s death.
The return to the past. The encounter with the other world’s Lich.
And the reunion with young Leo.
‘And on top of that, I have a body now.’
After existing as a weightless spirit, now that he had a physical form, his body felt especially heavy.
Heading to the bathroom with Leo, Alex filled a wooden tub with warm water. Leo, who had spent all day by the river catching fish and playing, needed a warm wash.
As he and the small Leo climbed into the tub together, the water sloshed slightly over the edge.
“It’s warm!”
“Aahhh….”
For the first time in twelve years, Alex felt a proper bath, and a satisfied sigh escaped his lips. It felt as though his entire body was melting.
[Ahh… this is refreshing….]
Alex couldn’t fathom why Ibek, who must have felt similarly, spoke of it being refreshing, but he didn’t dwell on it.
He simply savored this peace.
This peace was so precious that tears threatened to spill.

* * *
After washing thoroughly and drying off.
Leo bolted toward the bed, but Alex scooped him up easily. Leo squealed with laughter, and Alex grinned widely as he played with him, running back and forth across the room.
Then he tucked Leo gently into bed and pulled the soft blanket over him.
“Uncle, grill some meat again tomorrow. It was really, really delicious!”
Usually, Leo would eagerly chatter about what he’d do with his friends the next day, but tonight he could talk of nothing but the meat, still amazed at how good it had been.
“It was the best meat of my entire life!”
And now a six-year-old had already declared it the pinnacle of his existence.
Alex burst out laughing, but he also felt a pang of guilt for not having given Leo such delicious food before.
Perhaps that’s why he found himself grateful to Ibek for sharing this cooking method.
“Sure. I’ll make some again tomorrow evening.”
“Yay!”
Leo’s sky-blue eyes, bright as the heavens themselves, sparkled brilliantly.
“And uncle, can I share it with my friends too?”
“Of course you can.”
“And Mark and Jessi and…!”
Under the blanket, Leo began listing his friends and the villagers one by one, folding down his tiny fingers as he named them.
[At this rate we’ll end up throwing a village feast.]
Well, perhaps that wouldn’t be so bad.
The kind-hearted Leo wanted to share the delicious meat he’d enjoyed with everyone in the village.
“And… with grandfather Din and….”
Then slowly, sleep claimed him.
Leo, who had played so eagerly and returned safely with his uncle, and who had just eaten the most delicious meat of his life, drifted into slumber with a blissful expression on his face.
‘So different from back then….’
Seeing Leo’s young face unmarked by tears, Alex felt his throat tighten with emotion.
“I have to keep making him happy from now on.”
What would it take to keep Leo happy?
‘I need to rid the continent of the Demon King and the Demon Race.’
And he would also have to stop the monsters that were inflicting so much damage across the Continent.
‘Which means I can’t just stay in the village.’
He needed to grow stronger, use the knowledge of the Future, and gather treasures scattered across the Continent to build his power.
‘At least I know swordsmanship well enough.’
During his time as a spirit, he’d learned from the Hero Leo’s techniques and met countless knights and mercenaries, absorbing their skills.
The blade methods of the Knight Empire’s knights, the holy swordsmanship of the Holy Kingdom’s paladins, the techniques of mercenaries, and the single-lineage traditions passed down through generations.
As a spirit, Alex could move through training grounds forbidden to all but authorized personnel—a privilege that made learning swordsmanship far easier.
The accumulated knowledge of these techniques filled Alex’s mind completely. He could choose any of them to master.
‘Though it will take considerable time, of course.’
For Leo’s happiness, he was resolved to study diligently.
‘But first, I have to leave the Village.’
Now, twelve years before the apocalypse.
This was a crucial window—a chance to prevent the Demon King’s and Demon Race’s schemes, their plots, and the catastrophic events that would accelerate the age of ruin.
‘But I can’t leave Leo alone for years on end.’
He had no idea how long it would take for a mere farmer to eliminate the Demon King. He might even die in the attempt.
‘That can’t happen. It would be just like the Future.’
What mattered most was Leo’s happiness.
Leo growing up content and joyful.
‘So not only the Future, but the present must be happy too.’
That was why Alex decided to leave the Village with Leo, traveling together so he wouldn’t be lonely.
‘Teach him swordsmanship, help him make friends, eat delicious food, see the world.’
He wanted to give Leo everything he’d been denied by dying too soon.
Thinking of Leo’s joy as he gazed upon a world far wider than a small Village, Alex smiled warmly to himself.
The dangerous work—that was his alone to bear.
“We need to talk. You, the Lich from another world.”
But first, he had to deal with this matter.
[Ibek, right?]
Alex carefully slipped out of bed without waking Leo and made his way to the living room.
“Have you figured out a way to leave my body?”
[The surest method would be creating another Life Vessel.]
That was a solution Alex had already considered.
“The materials won’t be easy to come by, will they?”
[You’re right. We’d need High-Grade Mana Stones, vast quantities of gold and silver, and other materials that are incredibly rare.]
[Getting them all together won’t be simple.]
“Then why did you make such a fragile Life Vessel when it’s so hard to create one?”
Alex asked, recalling the glass bead that crumbled to powder the moment he grasped it, but Ibek quickly objected.
[I made it sturdy!]
[It probably weakened from the shock of crossing into this world and being transferred into your body.]
“…Was the impact really that severe?”
[Crossing dimensions isn’t something that happens easily.]
At that, Alex shelved his plan to escape to another world with Leo for now.
If even a Lich’s Life Vessel, protected by every spell imaginable, crumbled to dust, then crossing dimensions with a fragile human body would be far more treacherous.
His whole body might rupture.
Alex furrowed his brow and returned to the matter at hand.
“So creating a new Life Vessel will be difficult.”
From traveling with the Hero Party, he knew the locations of rare materials, but gathering them with his current strength would take an enormous amount of time.
‘I’ll probably be discovered and killed by the Solenium Religion before then.’
Alex sighed deeply.
“Are there any other methods?”
[Nope.]
Ibek’s carefree response, as if he hadn’t given it much thought, made Alex grit his teeth.
“You bastard. You have no intention of leaving my body, do you?”
[Correct!]
The answer was cheerfully delivered.
[Think about it.]
[If I leave your body, I won’t be able to taste anything. Why would I want to leave?]
[It’s the first food I’ve eaten in decades.]
Alex understood, but that didn’t mean he could keep Ibek inside him permanently.
Alex had considered a few alternatives himself.
The first, quickest and easiest method was to notify the Solenium Religion.
But doing so would cause Ibek to dissipate while inflicting harm on Alex as well.
‘At minimum, death….’
Alex had no intention of dying again, so he immediately thought of a second method.
It was to request help from the mages of the Mage Tower Federation.
But that was just as much a worst-case scenario as going to the Solenium Religion.
“Those lunatics won’t work either.”
The image of crazed mages rushing at him screaming “Test subject!!” made his spine crawl involuntarily.
Here too, he’d have to worry for his life.
“What’s left is finding an Ancient Artifact….”
Among Ancient Artifacts and Cursed Items, there were quite a few things related to souls, and he wondered if he could use one of them to separate and extract Ibek’s soul.
‘The problem is that items capable of separating and extracting souls with such delicacy are incredibly rare.’
Naturally, there was nothing near his house—they were all hidden deep in distant regions.
“If things go like this, finding an Ancient Artifact or making a new Life Vessel will be about the same difficulty….”
A sigh escaped him involuntarily.
It seemed he would have no choice but to spend quite a long time with this otherworldly Lich.
[I’m fine with this as it is!]
“I think it’s horrible.”
Alex was splashing his face with water when Ibek chuckled and spoke.
[Think about the bright side.]
[I prefer it when you live longer too. Because I can feel sensations that way.]
It was the first sensation he’d felt in tens of years.
Ibek wanted to eat delicious food, feel warmth and coolness for a long, long time.
[So I’ll protect you so you don’t die.]
He wasn’t sure whether he should be grateful for this.
“But you can’t use Magic.”
Ibek answered as if he’d been waiting for this objection.
[That’s why I’ve been thinking.]
[If I can’t use it while in your body, then why don’t you use it instead?]
Alex’s eyes widened.
“…Me?”
[Yeah. I’ll teach you the Mana Cultivation Method and Magic.]
Alex considered this carefully.
Being able to learn Magic was good—it was powerful and useful in many ways.
‘And I might be able to find a safe way to travel to this otherworld.’
He still hadn’t given up.
Escape to this otherworld.
Alex was filled with plans to flee with Leo if things became truly dangerous.
‘But….’
Alex didn’t want to give up Swordsmanship. It would be such a waste not to learn all the sword techniques from the Future that he knew about.
‘Besides, there are enemies against whom Magic doesn’t work.’
However, he couldn’t learn both the Mana Cultivation Method, which was the foundation of Magic, and the Aura Cultivation Method, which was the foundation of Swordsmanship, at the same time.
‘I can only learn one.’
Magic and Swordsmanship.
Which path would make him stronger?
Ibek grew puzzled as Alex fell into deep thought.
[You don’t want to learn Magic?]
[That’s strange. Everyone usually wants to learn it.]
“I do want to learn it… but I’m also thinking of learning Swordsmanship.”
Alex said it with a sigh.
“Since I can’t learn both, I should choose whichever has more potential.”
[? You’re going to learn swordplay too?]
[Hmm.]
[Then why not just learn the Mana Cultivation Method, which lets you use both?]
[Like a Spellblade.]
“A Spellblade?”
[A profession that uses both Magic and Swordsmanship together.]
[You don’t have that here?]
Hearing the term for the first time, Alex shook his head.
“No. Mages can only use Magic, and swordsmen can only use Swordsmanship.”
[Ah. So that’s how your world works.]
[Then you’ll be the first Spellblade ever!]
[That’s absolutely perfect!]
Let me teach you!
Alex looked startled at Ibek’s words and asked back.
“You can really use both sword and magic together?”
That’s right! Whether it’s the magical power that mages use or the aura that swordsmen use, the foundation is ‘mana’, isn’t it.
The Mana Cultivation Method I created teaches how to manipulate mana itself!
And you can use it while moving or speaking. If you can concentrate, it’s possible to train as naturally as breathing.
At those words, Alex couldn’t help but marvel.
It seemed the lich inside his body was indeed a formidable being in this world.
“All right. Teach me.”
If learning Ibek’s magic could help Leo’s happiness, then perhaps there’d be no need to extract Ibek’s soul.
The Solenium Religion was dangerous, though.
He could simply avoid them as much as possible.
“But can I really learn magic from another world?”
It should be fine.
If the laws governing magic were different, I would’ve already dispersed by now.
Like how humans can’t survive underwater.
A lich was a being created by magic.
If the magic of Earth and the magic of Solenium were different, there would be no way Lich Ibek could be intact.
Well, it might feel a bit foreign.
We’ll just work around that.
“All right, I understand.”
Just as there were secret transmissions in Swordsmanship, there were small schools in magic too, so it wouldn’t be a problem.
First, let’s sense the mana.
Sit down on the floor.
At that, Alex sat cross-legged on the living room floor just as the mages he’d seen in the Future had done, placing his hands on his knees.
That’s natural form.
Wasn’t this your first time learning magic?
“I’ve seen mages training before.”
But unlike swordsmanship, magic couldn’t be learned by sight alone, so Alex didn’t know much about it.
Hmm, is that so?
It seems the mages here are similar to those in my world too.
Ibek, intrigued, continued.
Now close your eyes and try to sense ‘something new’ in the air. You’ll feel something different from usual.
In my world, it usually takes several weeks, but I’m not sure how long it’ll take here.
“It’s similar here too. If you’re talented, a few days; if you’re ordinary, a few weeks; if you’re slow, over a year. But if you have no aptitude, you can’t sense it at all.”
That’s exactly the same as us.
Still, since I’m inside your body, you won’t fail to sense it entirely.
With the lich’s soul—magic itself—residing within him, he couldn’t help but be influenced.
Mana is the source of life. Humans, animals, plants—all of them possess it, though in varying amounts.
When that enters a person’s body, it becomes magical power or aura.
Alex listened intently to Ibek’s explanation.
Mana feels like a solid rock. It’s heavy and doesn’t move easily.
Alex closed his eyes.
Being nothing more than a common farmer, he knew it would take time, so Alex tried to sense the mana without impatience.
Something new. A feeling different from usual. Heavy and solid like stone.
Just as Alex was beginning to concentrate in earnest to sense the mana floating in the air.
‘…Huh?’
…Oh?
Ibek, sharing senses with Alex, felt ‘something’.
Heavy, solid, and possessing an overwhelming presence different from the air itself—
Insane! You’re already sensing mana?
Mana.

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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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