I Became the Hero While Paving a Flower Path for My Niece - Chapter 54

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

I Paved the Flowers’ Road and Became a Hero – Episode 54
[Oh, no.]
[He said he’d flip the table, but he’s destroyed it completely.]
Ibek remembered what the nobles at Caldis Lordship had said—that if they mocked Leo, Alex would flip the dining table.
And he’d actually gone and done it.
[And you used Silent Casting again.]
[Yeah.]
[Your eyes are still wild.]
Poison. Poison!
Alex’s lime-green eyes burned like hellfire.
They’d dared to poison the food Leo was about to eat!
Images flashed through his mind—from the Future, Hero Leo suffering after ingesting poison. Even as a Hero, the Demons had devised poisons that worked against him. And now, Leo was only six years old.
Just a child.
Was Leo going to die like this?
At six? So young?
If that happened, he would have been better off never coming back to the past at all.
Poison. Leo. Death. Six years old.
The words became shards that pierced his entire body. It was guilt.
He shouldn’t have come here. He shouldn’t have brought Leo. What had he been thinking, wanting to give him a good experience?
‘If Leo had actually ingested poison…’
The thought alone was unbearable.
That guilt and terror twisted into rage, turning him against House Brodell.
Alex’s nerves were wound tight, as if he stood alone in the heart of enemy territory.
Two Circles spun rapidly within him as he poured Mana through his Mana Circuits, reinforcing his body to respond with lethal speed at any moment.
Then he activated Mana Detection.
Instantly, he sensed the Mana signatures of the Brodell siblings and servants in the Dining Hall, Domerik Brodell standing at the entrance, and every person within the Brodell estate, mapping their positions with perfect clarity.
Hum— hum—
Visibly, only a single Fireball spell manifested around him, yet Alex gathered every ounce of Mana, ready to unleash every spell he knew.
* * *
Meilin Brodell, knife and fork in hand, blinked in confusion.
‘I was watching the second older brother enter the Dining Hall, about to eat…’
Then came a sudden crash, the table split clean in half, and Alex vanished into the distance with Leo, wielding spells and a short dagger in hand.
It happened so fast that Meilin Brodell remained frozen in mid-bite, staring blankly.
Or rather—
An eerie chill ran through her, paralyzing her body.
Meanwhile.
Klaus Brodell, a knight, managed to react.
The moment Alex’s reinforced fist came down on the table, Klaus reached for the sword at his waist, but a host would never keep a blade during a guest’s visit.
So instead, he grabbed the nearest thing resembling a sword—a knife—and stepped in front of Meilin Brodell.
But understanding was equally impossible.
Moments ago, Alex had been anticipating the meal with relish. Now, suddenly, his face had turned vicious and he was threatening them with spells and a short dagger. Klaus couldn’t fathom why.
‘And… wasn’t he just incredibly fast?’
By speed alone, the difference was marginal—slightly in Klaus’s favor.
But it made no sense.
He was an Aura Mastery user capable of Body Reinforcement.
How could a frail two-Circle mage move at nearly the same speed as a knight?
‘Is it magic?’
That seemed impossible too.
A mere two-Circle mage couldn’t cast such magic.
And look at Alex’s stance now.
It was closer to the posture of a swordsman trained in Swordsmanship than any mage’s form.
And the killing intent radiating from him was terrifying.
It was so oppressive that even Klaus Brodell, who’d faced strong monsters, flinched and took a step back.
‘…What in the world is he?’
And what was happening now?
Unable to comprehend the situation, Klaus Brodell instinctively tensed his entire body and swallowed hard.
The servants and maids stood frozen in fear, motionless. The cheerful atmosphere from moments before had evaporated.
They wanted to summon the knights, but feared that a single step would send those blazing spells straight at them, so they could barely breathe.
At the Dining Hall entrance.
The second son, Domerik Brodell, was in no better position.
Or perhaps it was the worst possible outcome.
Because as the table shattered in half, the recoil sent one of the dishes flying through the air to land squarely on Domerik Brodell’s head with a soft thud.
A creamy sauce dripped down through his hair.
But before Domerik Brodell could even process this, his attention was fixed on Alex’s Fireball.
‘He didn’t say an incantation just now. I’m sure of it.’
Domerik Brodell retraced the moments before in his mind.
The mercenary mage, who had retreated near the wall with the child, had drawn his sword from his hip and simultaneously conjured a Fireball beside him.
There had been no audible incantation, and the speed was remarkable.
‘…Silent Casting!’
No, that couldn’t be right.
Only high-Circle mages could cast magic without speaking an incantation.
‘For someone with merely 2 Circles to manage it…!’
It was impossible. He couldn’t do it himself, after all.
The food flying over his head must have simply prevented him from hearing the incantation. That had to be it.
Domerik Brodell stared at the mercenary mage with this conviction, and found his fists clenching of their own accord.
* * *
[Listen, Alex! Get a grip!]
[Leo, call your uncle right now!]
[At this rate, everyone in this place is going to die!]
[My Mana’s appeared too!]
Leo, dangling from Alex’s left arm, could only blink in confusion at whatever was happening.
His body had been lifted with a sudden whoosh—he’d been startled—and before he knew it, his uncle was carrying him far away from the table. Moreover, the table itself was now shattered for some reason.
Leo was about to ask his uncle what on earth was going on.
But then.
He felt his uncle’s left arm trembling against him.
And through his back, he could feel his uncle’s heartbeat pounding—thump-thump—so loudly and rapidly it was almost overwhelming.
As if his uncle were afraid of something.
Leo lifted his head and looked up at his uncle.
His uncle’s gaze was fixed on the table, his expression hardened and his eyes sharp as blades.
To anyone looking, he seemed consumed by rage—but Leo, being close enough, could see how pallid his face had become, how his jade-green eyes trembled slightly.
And within them, he read fear and despair.
He felt his uncle’s terror and dread radiating through his entire body.
So Leo gripped his uncle’s left arm tightly.
Though he didn’t know what his uncle was afraid of, he held on, hoping he would be afraid no longer.
That small, warm hand seemed to pull Alex back to himself.
“Uncle, are you alright?”
At that gentle voice, Alex exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
He then examined Leo in his arms, worried that the sudden movement had frightened him.
“I’m fine, Leo. Are you?”
“I’m fine too!”
Leo laughed cheerfully, hehe. That was a relief.
[You back with us?]
[Yeah. This is what you’d really call a rage problem.]
[Even in countries without a caste system, I know commoners aren’t supposed to cause a scene in front of nobles like this.]
[But honestly, if it’s about Leo, I think you’d pull something like this even in front of a king.]
Ibek laughed with anticipation at the thought of that day.
That playful, light voice seemed to sweep away the last of Alex’s lingering rage.
[Oh, and are you sensing it right now?]
[My Mana, I mean!]
Yes.
He was sensing it.
Alex’s gaze shifted to Domerik Brodell standing in front of the door.
From within Domerik Brodell’s skull, Alex could faintly sense Ibek’s corrupted Mana—a sallow, sword-green magical aura.
But it wasn’t as clear as when Ibek resided in his bones.
[I never thought I’d encounter my Mana in a place like this!]
[It would’ve been so much better if it had been my bones!]
Ibek continued, his regret evident.
[But judging by the fact that I’m sensing it from his head and not his heart, it looks like whoever’s got my bones cast Dark Magic on the second son.]
[I’d assumed the second son was a Dark Mage, but my theory’s wrong, it seems.]
‘Dark Magic, then….’
Brainwashing? Coercion? Or surveillance?
Perhaps he didn’t even know he was under Dark Magic.
[This makes things murky.]
There was no way to tell if he was an aspiring Dark Mage or a victim.

‘Let me probe a little.’
Alex opened his mouth, studying Domerik Brodell primarily.
“I didn’t expect you’d actually try to poison us after inviting us to dine like this.”
The sentence naturally cut short.
The fact that Leo had nearly been put in danger rankled him, even if the Brodell siblings truly knew nothing about it.
“…Poison?”
“What do you mean…?”
The Brodell siblings, who had been tense at Alex’s sudden aggression and killing intent, widened their eyes at words they’d never anticipated.
The gaze of everyone in the Dining Hall naturally drifted toward the ruined dishes.
[Oh, they reacted!]
Alex caught it.
He saw Domerik Brodell’s body stiffen involuntarily before his expression shifted to surprise.
[He knew about the poison!]
[No sign of remorse — so the second son must be the one who poisoned it!]
It seemed both he and Leo had stumbled into the second son’s scheme by accident.
[I came here for a decent meal, and it’s come to this.]
Right, indeed.
He felt a pang of regret — he shouldn’t have brought Leo — but this wasn’t the time for that.
[The second son being a would-be family poisoner seems certain.]
[If that’s the case, he probably knows Dark Magic too.]
“Was I not supposed to find the Underground Space? Do you have something you’re trying to hide?”
Again, Domerik Brodell’s pupils wavered as though struck by guilt.
[Exactly!]
Alex furrowed his brow.
Just as when the poisoning was mentioned, there was no remorse or self-recrimination in Domerik Brodell that a coerced victim would feel.
He seemed closer to an aspiring Dark Mage.
“No, sir. That Underground Space has nothing to do with us.”
Klaus Brodell spoke urgently.
“We know nothing of any poisoning. Are you perhaps mistaken? We ate the same meal as well, didn’t we?”
Meilin Brodell opened her mouth calmly.
“If there truly were poison, the servants would have filtered it out.”
[Not ordinary poison, that’s why.]
[This is made from slime acid mixed with Mushrat paralytic powder, plus other ingredients.]
[I was planning to make it, but someone’s already done it.]
Alex kept the floating Fireball hovering as it was, but tucked the Short Dagger he’d been holding into his cloak, then set Leo down from where he’d been carrying him and covered both of Leo’s ears with his hands.
“? Huh?”
Unable to hear anything now, Leo blinked in confusion.
“If you swallow this poison, your esophagus and intestines slowly dissolve in the acid.”
Alex relayed Ibek’s words.
He didn’t want to tell a six-year-old Leo about such things.
“But the person who ingests it won’t notice because of the paralytic powder.”
Everyone drew a sharp breath at the mention of dissolving intestines. The Brodell siblings reflexively pressed their palms against their chests.
“Normally they’d have poor digestion, feel tired frequently, and lose their appetite.”
[The symptoms are so ordinary that everyone thinks nothing of it, then one day the intestines have completely dissolved and they die.]
[At least the paralytic powder means they won’t feel pain!]
…They were trying to create a poison like that?
This truly seemed fitting for a Lich of another world.
[The dosage was small, so the intestines wouldn’t dissolve immediately.]
[But if six-year-old Leo had eaten it, the effects would’ve been much worse.]
…Should I lose my composure again?
Alex let out an inward sigh and relayed what he’d been told.
As the explanation continued, the Brodell siblings’ faces grew pale.
Come to think of it, they had been experiencing occasional indigestion for several months now. Even after eating, they felt drained, and they often grew tired.
“…Eldest brother. And grandfather too…?”
“Yes.”
The Count bore the same symptoms.
So it really was poison.
Though nothing was certain yet.
Still, Alex didn’t seem like the type to make such an accusation without evidence.
Klaus Brodell gestured quickly, and the Butler—who had been listening to Alex’s words with a look of shock—straightened his expression and stepped forward.
“Yes, young lord.”
“Send for a priest—”
Screeeech!!
A priest!!
The priest is coming!!

“—and bring a healer here. Your grandfather needs one immediately.”
“Yes!”
The Butler bolted from the Dining Hall at once.
Good. One less complication.
Even Alex, who’d been on the verge of scooping Leo up and fleeing on the spot, exhaled quietly with relief.
“Alex. Now that we’ve summoned a healer, we should be able to determine whether there’s truly poison in the food. If you’re willing, perhaps we could wait just a little while longer.”
Polite, too.
He’d expected the young lord to take offense at being addressed informally.
Thanks to that, Alex relaxed a bit. He dismissed the Fireball he’d been holding.
Though, to be fair, he’d only spotted the poison because of his own sensitivity to such things. A normal person would take far longer to detect it.
“No.”
Alex shook his head.
He couldn’t say how long the test would take, and he couldn’t leave Leo in a house with both the Count and Domerik Brodell—a suspected poisoner and budding Dark Mage.
“A poison like this would take any ordinary healer quite some time to identify. We’ll take our leave now. We’ll still participate in the incomplete Magic Circle project.”
The youngest son flinched again!
Klaus Brodell nodded, his expression resigned.
“…Very well. I understand. We’ll do as you say.”
He seemed somewhat relieved that Alex’s manner had grown calmer.
He wouldn’t have wanted to linger in such a place himself. And besides, Alex had a six-year-old nephew to think of.
Seeing young Leo still covered by Alex’s hand, hearing nothing and looking bewildered, Klaus Brodell felt a stab of guilt and continued with a hardened expression.
“If there truly is poison in the food, I’ll inform you of the culprit’s identity as soon as it’s confirmed.”
Right.
Even if the poisoner turned out to be his own brother?
Meilin Brodell rose quickly from her chair. “I’ll have the carriage prepared! Just give us a moment!”
At her words, the servants moved as though released from a spell.
Though none of them approached the table that had been split in half.
“…Brother. I’ll head out first.”
Domerik Brodell, who had been watching the situation silently, finally spoke.
“Yes, go on. Quickly now.”
Only then did Klaus Brodell see the pitiful state of his younger brother and nod.
Domerik Brodell turned and left the Dining Hall.
Alex watched his departing figure in silence.

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