The Lord Is Too Overbearing

Outbreak referred to a phenomenon where the Obelisk retracted the Barrier of the area it had been isolating due to the overpopulation of the Demons staying in the area. An overwhelming amount of Demons would roam the world freely because of this phenomenon.

What one was afraid the most of this phenomenon was the fact that the Obelisk Masters, an abomination that could cause an unimaginable destruction by themselves, could also roam the world freely while leading the Demons.

Demons by themselves were already troublesome, let alone being under the lead of someone. As long as the Obelisk Masters were still alive, the Outbreak would never end.

To "end" the Outbreak, one had to kill the Obelisk Master leading the army of Demons. The moment said Obelisk Master was killed, the Demons would no longer have someone to command them, which would in turn make defeating them easier.

For that reason, although the Demons still roamed many parts of the places that were inhabited by the citizens of Braxtein Kingdom, due to the death of Goap, taking care of them wasn't as difficult as it had been before.

After the news of the death of Goap was broadcast, especially, the people's spirit rose significantly. They hunted the Demons after the news, whereas they had simply tried their best to survive prior to the news.

"Bloody hell! This brat is really testing my limit."

"Calm down, Iliana. You should just focus on keeping his heart beating."

"I am doing the best I can, but I won't be able to keep doing it."

Uncaring to the news of the victory over Goap and his army, Ione and Iliana were busy trying to keep Basil alive. His body was completely exhausted and internally injured, so many of his vital organs had stopped working.

They had to infuse their Mana into his body to keep those organs working, until his Mana Heart produced enough Mana to heal his internal injuries. It wasn't an easy job, of course; it was draining them physically and mentally.

They could find many Priests that would do the job for them, but doing so would only end up exposing Basil's identity as a Pacifer. The Pacifer, after all, had a special characteristic, which could be easily noticed by Priests and anyone from the Church.

"Keugh... It is tiring, but it is really fascinating to look at this kind of internal working. Just how could he have such a complicated network in his body?"

"Focus on your job, Ione. You can admire his peculiarity later."

Thus far, Iliana and Ione had been the only people who had seen the Mana Network in Basil's body. They could never fathom how such an unusual and bizarre network could exist, which further convinced them no one other than them should see it.

Even if the Priest that treated Basil was too dumb to notice that he was a Pacifer, the bizarre Mana Network in his body would still alarm the Priest.

Said Priest would then tell what he had seen to his fellow Priests, and it wouldn't be long until the higher ups figured it out. Since the Pacifer were associated with peculiarities, they would deem Basil a Pacifer not long after.

In any case, leaving Basil to the care of anyone whom he didn't trust should never be allowed to happen.

"How is his condition?!"

After ten minutes of taking care of Basil by themselves, Anthony barged into Basil's tent. He had announced his presence clearly before before barging in, so Iliana and Ione weren't surprised in the least bit.

"We already have everything under control." Iliana glanced towards the door of the tent, where she could sense Priests were approaching. "We don't need anymore help. We will take care of Basil by ourselves."

"Are you qualified for that role?" Anthony frowned lightly at the indirect refusal of help.

"Did you know who helped him stabilise his condition after his fight with Jerion?"

"The two of you..."

"Then, you should have known how miraculous of a job we had done by now."

It was clear to him that, for some reason, Iliana and Ione were against the idea of letting any Priests come near Basil.

Anthony, fortunately, didn't know anything about the eternal feud between the Pacifer and the Church, so he didn't think they were behaving suspiciously. Quite the contrary, he was suspicious of the Priests—the Church.

'Have they ever been wronged by anyone from the Church?' he mused.

"From how apparent Eban's dislike towards Basil was, I think it is already enough guarantee that they will do something unwanted to Basil's body, Your Majesty," Iliana interrupted Anthony's thought. "Even if it wasn't the case, I don't want to take the risk."

"I can't just let the Hero of the war die though..."

"We understand your concern, but please leave everything to us. Just because you have never seen any Mage heal someone before, it doesn't mean we can't do that."

"T-That is..." Anthony's eyes widened in realization and disbelief.

He had thought Iliana and Ione were also Dual Principle Practitioners due to the fact that Basil, who was the person they always went together with, was one. He didn't think it was weird for them to help Basil heal himself because Knights often did that.

It was only then did he realize how stupid he was for thinking anyone was as gifted as Basil. Regardless of the fact that they weren't Knights, still, what the two were capable of was mind-bogggling.

'I can't let their capability be known by the world. Mages who can heal people? Everyone will try to put their claws on them if they hear of it!' Already, Anthony decided to secure his talents in advance.

"Very well, I will leave him to the two of you ... Rest assured, for your secret will remain safe with me," Anthony stated stoically.

Ione and Iliana looked at each other silently. The former looked at the latter with a surprised gaze, meanwhile the latter looked at the former with a 'told you' look.

The two immediately nodded their head and said their gratitude afterwards. Anthony got out of Basil's tent silently, and ordered everyone to not come near it.

Curious they were with the condition of Basil, the Hero of the war, none of the people dare to disobey their King's command, so none of them barged into Basil's tent and disturbed his rest.

Basil's condition remained unknown even until their return. None of them could spot him in the rank on their march to home; it was as if Basil had erased himself after helping them in the battle.

"Really, how long will you remain asleep this time?" Iliana muttered. "Please don't be forever."

Inside the private litter of Anthony that couldn't be seen by anyone's eyes, Iliana sat beside the peacefully sleeping Basil. She was accompanied by Ione, who was looking at Basil solemnly.

"He will be fine..." Ione gently rubbed Iliana's shoulder. "His condition is improving over time thanks to our effort, so you shouldn't worry that much about him. Besides... He is too tenacious to succumb to death."

As if agreeing to Ione's words, the two women could notice Basil's mouth curved slightly. He looked as disdainful as usual even in his current state, making them wonder just when he would act humble.

For the overbearing Basil, of course, the answer was, he would never.

...

Hardships pass so slow, whereas happy times pass so quick. By the time the people know it, three days had passed since the defeat of Goap.

By this point, the story of the genius who was born only once in two millennia, Basil Pacifer, was already widespread. He became a hot topic really quick; it was hard to find youth who aspired to be outstanding Mages or Knights that didn't know him.

Just as they thought his amazing achievements stopped at killing Scylla and Charybdis, just a day after the official declaration of the end of the Outbreak, the people found out that he had also saved Raneil Barony, the home of his family by himself.

The people admired him even more at the revelation. His care towards his family on top of being such an outstanding Mage and Knight quickly made him be the idol of anyone, regardless of their status.

Some stories of him became exaggerated due to some people's abnormal obsession towards him, but fortunately none of them painted him in a bad light. They, however, had their own versions of Basil Pacifer in their mind, which Basil would definitely hate if he knew.

"Oi, it's lunch time! It's time to take a little bit of rest. We have seen enough bodies, so please don't kill yourselves uselessly."

"Kuhahaha! What are you talking about? Are you that worried that we, Knights, can't do the job right? Relax, renovating and repairing buildings are in our blood!"

The Kingdom's reconstruction was going well. The moment the Demons were chased away from the area inhabited by the citizens, which was just a day before, the reconstruction was immediately carried out.

Everyone helped each other to make the reconstruction finish faster. Mages and Knights volunteered to do the job they usually didn't do, which greatly accelerated the progress of the reconstruction.

The atmosphere would get gloomy from time to time due to the amount of people they had lost, but they would constantly remind themselves they would only spit on the effort of the people who had ended the Outbreak by constantly mourning.

Sshk. Sshk.

In the master room of the private mansion of King Anthony, a beautiful brown-haired girl was peeling the skin of an apple with a knife. Her hand movement was so gracious, it was clear she had some knowledge in wielding a sword.

She cut the apple into ten slices and served them in a plate. With a sad smile she looked at the plate; she wondered if they would finally be eaten today.

"It is too calm here."

"Eh?"

Just as she was about to take the plate that was filled with apple slices to the bedridden person, who was her brother, she was surprised to find him awake.

"B-Basil..."

"Is it already hard for you to call me brother now, Clarissa?"

"N-No... I just..."

Clarissa could only stay silent as Basil slowly turned his head from the window to her. She didn't know how to react as her feet turned weak.

His bangs that partly covered his eyes, his face that was otherworldly handsome, his shirt that barely covered his toned chest—everything about him made her heart beat like crazy.

Thinking his surrogate sister was too overwhelmed by relief to react, the Hero of the First Outbreak, who was just awake from his slumber, got out of his bed, and hugged said sister.