"You will definitely protect mom and your sisters, Noah," He believed in his eldest daughter, just like she had just believed that as long as she could divert Ravi's attention, her father would definitely be able to turn the tide.
"Your Highness…"
"Your Highness, I—I can go plug the rift in your place! The Silver Dragon clan cannot be without you!", said a dragon warrior.
Hearing a dragon willing to sacrifice for him, Leon felt a bit complicated inside.
He looked at that warrior and shook his head.
"Plugging the rift isn't something that can be done with just courage and awareness. I don't want to arrogantly say that only I can do it, but unfortunately, that's the truth."
Ravi's last words were both a will and a curse. He wanted Leon to make this crucial decision;
Of course, aside from that, just as Leon said, among everyone present, only he had the power to stop the rift.
Rossweise probably didn't have enough power.
Even if she did, Leon wouldn't let her go.
Rossweise's assessment of him wasn't wrong at all:
Confident, chuunibyou, a fool who loves playing the hero.
But…
What boy hasn't fantasized about the end of the world arriving, himself standing alone, moving against the tide, under everyone's hopeful yet shocked gazes, reversing the collapse and saving everything?
Leon simply turned that fantasy into reality.
He took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, and then gradually stepped toward that abyss-like rift.
"Leon! Leon, you can't go, you absolutely can't go."
Rossweise rushed over and tightly grabbed Leon's hand, almost begging, "If you go, I'll hate you for life, I really will hate you forever. You must not go."
Leon blinked, a bit choked up. He didn't look at Rossweise, lowering his voice, "You are the Dragon Queen, Rossweise. Don't lose composure in front of the clan."
"I-I'll go with you—"
"Then what about our daughters?"
"..."
Leon gently pressed down on Rossweise's hand.
This time, she didn't stop him again.
He stepped to the front of the rift, back facing the Silver Dragon Queen.
The rift's suction force kept growing, stirring up a fierce wind.
Her silver hair flew wildly; she didn't dare to look back at Leon.
"Rossweise Melkvei."
Every time he called her full name, he always had something very important to say.
Rossweise hesitated for a moment, then finally gathered her courage and looked up at him.
That tall figure stood before the abyssal rift, half-turned, with a relieved smile on his face.
Then he said three more words.
But they were drowned out by the howling of the rift.
In the next second, Leon's figure vanished into it.
Vast, surging lightning energy surged wildly inside.
The rift quaked, lightning leaked out, and everyone retreated to the side.
Gradually, the spatial rift began shrinking at a rate visible to the naked eye.
Until finally, it disappeared.
"Your Highness..."
"Your Majesty? Your Majesty…"
Rossweise held Noah, silent and soulless, and walked to the spot just now.
She slowly knelt down halfway, picked up the helmet on the ground, and held it tightly in her arms.
'It seems… to still carry his warmth.'
———
Leon slowly opened his eyes.
'Blue sky, white clouds, grassland, forest, breeze—'
Tss~
What a familiar gospel, seems to come from some nutcase old acquaintance.
He slowly sat up and looked around at the environment.
Not far away looked like a collapsed low mountain, but probably because of age, the broken boulders were already covered with moss.
A bit further was a dense mountain forest, huge trees rising straight from the ground, clearly having grown for many years.
He observed a while longer, confirmed no danger nearby, then slowly stood up.
His body was very weak.
Magic was completely depleted, his limbs and bones ached clearly, a side effect of the Nine Gates Hell.
But luckily, he could still walk.
He dragged his tired body toward that mountain forest.
Although this place was deserted, Leon faintly recognized where it was, "The border of Silver Dragon territory…"
But he didn't see a single dragon nearby.
Nor even a trace of any battle.
"So... I really did succeed in sealing that spatial rift…"
Leon didn't know how long he had been unconscious, or maybe he hadn't even lost consciousness at all.
Because ever since he stepped into the spatial rift, he had no perception of the outside world.
He only knew he kept draining his magic, and only he could seal that rift.
'Now it seems, I have indeed… succeeded.'
'But it seems, not completely.'
'Where the hell is everyone?'
'Where's my wife? My beautiful, gentle, virtuous, though a little tsundere and sharp-tongued but still the one I love, my wife?'
'Where are my kids? My ambitious eldest daughter, mascot-like second daughter, scientist-dreaming third daughter, my three super cute kids?'
'Why is no one here?'
Leon was full of doubt as he entered the forest, heading toward the Silver Dragon Temple in his memory.
"If the rift has been sealed, then Rossweise and the others should be safe now..."
"But then why isn't there any sign of them?"
"But if it wasn't sealed, then why is the border of Silver Dragon territory perfectly fine..."
Leon walked and analyzed silently.
But his mind was a mess right now, unable to calm down and think properly.
He was worried about Noah, worried about Luna and Little Light, and also… about Rossweise.
Honestly, for stepping into the rift so decisively, Leon was starting to feel a little regret now.
But he didn't regret facing death. He regretted not saying more heartfelt words to Rossweise.
His head was foggy, but he clearly remembered, right before entering the rift, he said those three words to Rossweise.
No idea if that dumb dragon heard it clearly.
Even if she didn't, she should've been able to read his lips, right?
"Hey, wasn't that the confession you always wanted? Satisfied now, dumb dragon?", He muttered to himself and continued hurrying forward.
And while walking, Leon didn't forget to observe the surroundings.
Judging by how dense the forest was, these giant trees had been growing wildly in a fully natural environment for a long time, with no sign of pruning.
Logically, as the first line of defense on the border, these trees should've been trimmed regularly to avoid blocking the view.
When he came to patrol here with Rossweise before, the Silver Dragon warriors handled it well.
But now, it was obvious no one had tended to it for a long time.
Leon silently noted this suspicion and continued walking toward the Silver Dragon Temple.
Using the position of the sun, he roughly estimated it was around 8 or 9 in the morning.
But when he entered the rift, it should've been near evening.
Even if more than ten hours had passed, the forest environment shouldn't have changed so much.
"Could it be I went the wrong way?"
Leon suddenly stopped walking.
The chance of a wrong path was low.
But not impossible.
He hesitated a bit, then decided to go back the way he came, and carefully observe the perimeter to reconfirm the location.
Thinking this, Leon turned around.
But just as he took a step, the ground beneath his foot gave way, and he fell straight into a shallow pit.
"What the hell… who's the jerk that dug a hole here…"
That sudden fall made his already-exhausted body after opening the Fifth Gate feel even worse.
Leon sat in the pit, rested for a while before climbing up.
Just as he was about to get up, something caught his eye at the edge of the pit, shrubbery.
The bushes were very dense. That's why Leon didn't see the pit earlier and stepped into it.
"Pit and shrubbery..."
Leon's thoughts stirred, and he brushed away the outer layer of the bush to inspect the markings inside.
Sure enough, at the edge of the bush's opening, a particularly flat gap caught his attention.
Looking again inside the pit, though most of it was covered by dirt and moss, if one observed carefully, the same kind of flat marks could still be seen as at the bush opening.
"It's that hidden sentry that was silently eliminated by space magic back then…"
Which meant, he hadn't taken the wrong road.
This was indeed the forest leading to the Silver Dragon Temple.
"If the border of the territory shows no signs of battle or invasion, then that means they're safe, right?"
Thinking so, Leon pressed his hands to the pit's edge and with a push, flipped himself out.
After confirming this was Silver Dragon territory, Leon quickened his pace toward the temple.
———
Leon arrived at the outskirts of the temple around sunset.
But he had a bad feeling.
From the border to the temple, such a long distance, and he didn't see a single Silver Dragon.
With Rossweise's level of caution, it was impossible for her not to station any sentries or guards.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y