The morning sun crept over the forest canopy, spilling golden light across the camp like a soft blessing. Birds chirped, and the leaves rustled with a breeze that carried the scent of wet earth and new beginnings.
Amidst it all, Leo moved.
He carried a bundle of logs under one arm, giving orders, lending help, encouraging the tired and the hopeful. His eyes, however, betrayed him. They were dull—dark circles etched beneath them like bruises of responsibility.
Yet no one noticed.
They only saw the leader. The savior. The boy who never stopped.
A woman whispered to her husband as they organized newly picked fruits, her voice filled with wonder.
"Darling… don't you think he's amazing? He gave us a home… and not just any home. It's better than the one we lost."
Her husband, a quiet man with a scarred jaw, nodded.
"He didn't even rest last night. I saw him. Using magic to shape wood, weaving leaves like thread. Material manipulation… That's royal-tier magic, isn't it?"
The woman's eyes softened.
"He's not just strong. He's kind. Even to the goblins."
Further away, a group of goblins sat in a circle, sharpening sticks into tools. One of them, a young female goblin, smiled faintly.
"Boss Leo gave us shelter too. No human ever did that."
Another goblin grunted.
"He's weird. But… in a good way."
None of them knew the truth.
None of them saw Leo pause and sit near a half-built hut, his breathing shallow. He leaned on his knees and smiled faintly, trying to shake off the dizziness crawling behind his eyes.
"Almost done... Maybe by tomorrow, everyone will have a place to sleep."
He looked at the houses scattered around the clearing—rough but sturdy, built from logs, bark, and woven leaves. Smoke curled from a few chimneys already. Children laughed in the distance. It felt… like a home.
"This time… I have people. A sister who calls me onii-chan. Friends who trust me. Monsters who aren't monsters anymore."
He closed his eyes for a moment.
"I won't lose them. Not like before."
Then his thoughts turned sharp. He opened his eyes.
"Those knights… from the Holy Empire. I still have to figure out what they're doing near the border."
With a grunt, Leo stood. He raised his hand and drew a circle in the air. The space rippled, magic symbols forming midair, glowing faintly violet.
A portal bloomed open before him.
"Finally got this spell stable. Took enough nights without sleep… but it's worth it."
"Phew I could easily teleport at that place where lili last seen those knights seems like it was right choice to put some of my mana traces on her so that I could teleport myself"
He turned to look back once—at the scattered homes, the people chatting and working, the goblins stacking logs, and the tiny form of Lia still curled up inside a leaf bed.
He smiled.
Then stepped through the portal.
And vanished into the wind.
A soft ripple tore through the fabric of space as Leo stepped out of his portal, suspended high above the treetops. The sky stretched clear and endless, but his sharp purple eyes narrowed on the figures below.
Knights. Dozens of them.
And adventurers, too. Camped near a rocky hill crowned with a massive cave entrance. They wore polished armor etched with an emblem Leo instantly recognized: a butterfly paired with a set of balanced scales—the symbol of the Holy Empire of Luminael.
"Tch… I don't get it. Why are so many of them freely roaming outside their empire's border?" Leo thought grimly. "Is it just about this land now being unclaimed… or are they planning something much bigger?"
Whatever it was—they weren't here by coincidence.
He couldn't risk exposure. Not yet.
With a snap of his fingers, magic rippled through his body. Flesh shifted, bones restructured, and in mere seconds, Leo's entire form transformed. His youthful features dissolved into wrinkled skin, his back hunched slightly, his silver hair dulled and lengthened into a wispy white. Even his voice changed.
"Best not to show up as myself," he muttered in a deep, raspy tone. "Time to meet them as someone else."
He descended silently, reappearing on the forest floor behind a line of bushes, just far enough from the main encampment.
A single adventurer—young, lean, and clearly exhausted—sat slouched under a tree, helmet off and sweat clinging to his brow.
"Ugh… so tired…" the boy groaned, wiping his face. "I swear if one more guy tells me to move a crate, I'll stab something."
Leo stepped out slowly, now fully in his old-man disguise.
"Excuse me, young man," Leo croaked gently. "Would you mind answering a curious traveler's question?"
The boy jolted to his feet, half-reaching for the sword at his waist.
"Wh-Who the hell are you?!"
"Crap," Leo thought. "Forgot to come up with a name."
The boy took a step back. "Hey! I said, who are you?"
Leo raised his hands in a harmless gesture and gave a toothy smile. "Name's Case. Just an old wizard who lives near the edge of this forest. No need to panic, boy."
The tension in the kid's shoulders eased, just slightly.
"Oh… okay. Sorry, you startled me." He sheathed his sword. "Didn't expect someone living around here."
Leo chuckled in his dusty voice. "It's peaceful, most of the time. But today… well, it looks like a military parade. Knights and adventurers everywhere. Know why they're here?"
The boy nodded. "Ah—yeah, kind of. I'm Heas. Just a low-rank knight, nothing special. Honestly, I don't know much about the mission specifics… I just came for the pay. They said they needed guards, and the coin was good."
Heas leaned in conspiratorially, glancing around.
"But between you and me, old man… there's a rumor going around."
Leo raised a brow. "A rumor?"
"Yup," Heas whispered. "Word is, that cave we're guarding? It's got something in it. Something big. Like, really powerful. Supposed to give the Holy Empire an edge no other kingdom has. That's why the higher-ups are crawling around here."
He pulled back and laughed nervously. "Also, there's this dumb story that the kingdom here was destroyed by some 'hero versus villain' fight, and the land's abandoned now. I mean, a hero dying like that? That's gotta be fake, right?"
Leo's eyes darkened as he hid a smirk.
"You'd be surprised, kid."
Still, something about Heas made him pause. His words were simple, his understanding shallow—but his heart was honest.
"Kind… and naive. Not a threat. Just a pawn in a bigger game."
"Well," Leo rasped, adjusting his illusionary cloak, "thanks, Heas. I think I'll be leaving this area for a while."
"No need, old man," Heas said with a grin. "If you live around here, I'll protect you. Doesn't matter what country you're from—that's what knights are for."
Leo smiled.
Genuinely.
"Then may your sword stay true, Sir Heas."
With a rustle of leaves, he vanished into the underbrush.
Heas blinked. "Huh? Where'd he go?"
High in the sky, Leo returned to his original form. His silver hair fluttered as he flew silently through the air, gaze sharp and thoughtful.
"They're hiding something. Something dangerous enough to risk war by trespassing into this land…"
He clenched his fist.
"Whatever it is… I'll stop them. Before it threatens everything I've built."