I Paved a Flower Path for My Nephew and Ended Up Becoming the Hero
[Whoa! I can feel the wind!]
Inside Alex's body, Two Hundred marveled at the cool wind, the warm sunlight, and the fresh smell of grass.
But all that Alex's eyes could see was the village, drawing steadily closer.
Alex was overcome.
At the comfortable, peaceful scenery that could not even have been dreamed of in the Age of Ruin, it felt as though tears might burst out of him.
Alex's steps grew faster still.
"...!"
And then, at some moment, they stopped.
It was the hour when the sunset glowed.
Because he had spotted a child playing with his friends at the entrance to the back mountain.
A six-year-old boy with golden hair.
"...Leo."
Somehow having heard that small voice he had called out without meaning to, Leo — who had been drawing pictures in the dirt with his friends while waiting for his uncle — turned his head and looked toward where Alex stood.
That sight appeared to him very slowly.
Alex watched the child without so much as blinking.
The swaying golden hair, the plump, soft, ruddy cheeks, the sparkling sky-blue eyes, and even the smile as bright as a flower.
Not the 'Hero Leo' who had fallen asleep forever, but a young Leo brimming with life, standing right there.
His heart beat fast.
It was just like a dream.
Afraid that even the slightest movement might wake him, Alex could not breathe, unlike a moment ago when he had come running so eagerly.
Over there.
Leo was there.
His nephew was there, perfectly sound and alive.
The child's face, beaming after spotting his uncle, soon colored with surprise.
"Uncle!"
At the sight of Leo looking straight at him with sparkling sky-blue eyes and calling out to him, Alex felt tears about to come without meaning to, but he held them back.
His clothes were already in rags, and if he cried on top of that, Leo would worry.
"...Leo!"
But there was nothing to be done about the voice, gone heavy with longing and with a swelling in his chest.
"Uncle! Did something happen?"
Leo, startled to see the uncle who had gone up the back mountain come back in rags, ran over with a face on the verge of tears.
Alex bent his knees reflexively and pulled Leo into a tight embrace.
"Ah! Cold!"
He felt sorry when Leo cried that out at the touch of the wet clothes, but he did not want to let go.
He could feel the warm body heat that announced he was alive, and Leo's heart beating fast. Life poured out of that small body.
'...Ah!'
Only when he held that small, warm body in his arms could Alex feel with piercing clarity that this was real.
He truly had returned to the past.
"Uncle, what's wrong? Are you hurt somewhere? Does it hurt a lot?"
At Leo, who worried about his uncle first even though he must be cold, Alex struggled to push down the emotion welling up in him.
This was the nephew who had not been able to hear him for over a decade no matter how he spoke to him, and now he was speaking to him first.
Tears and laughter both felt about to burst out of him, but Alex forced them back and smiled widely with reddened eyes as he spoke.
"No, I'm not hurt. Look here, it's only the clothes that got torn."
Alex showed the perfectly unharmed bare skin through the torn cloth. Just as Alex said, Leo and his friends looked here and there, but there really was not a single wound.
"That's because your uncle dodged this way and that as hard as he could!"
"Whoaaa!"
When Alex swayed his body from side to side to show them an exaggerated dodge, the children's eyes sparkled with admiration.
"Well, Leo? Isn't your uncle amazing?"
"Yeah! Uncle's the best!"
At Leo saying that with a bright smile, as though he had set his worry down, Alex made a vow.
That no matter what happened, he would protect this smile.
[Your nephew? He's cute!]
[How old is he?]
And to do that, he first had to get this 'otherworld lich' out of his body.
"Oh dear. What on earth happened?"
The adults, who had gathered at the noise of the children, were startled to see Alex in rags.
At the sight of these dearly missed people, all of whom had died in the 'future,' Alex fought to keep his face from twisting and whispered so the children would not hear.
"I heard a wolf howling, and I tumbled while running away."
At that, the adults looked Alex up and down again.
"How do you tumble and tear your clothes like that?"
"Right. You couldn't even use that as a rag."
"Ahahaha."
Alex laughed awkwardly.
"But you said a wolf appeared?"
"I only heard the sound."
The truth was that in the 'future' there had been only one wolf that appeared near the village, but now that he had survived and the wolf was dead, there was no telling how things would go, so it seemed better to give a warning like this.
Wolves lived in packs, after all.
"Then we ought to inform the neighboring village and the lord's castle. And tell everyone to stay off the back mountain for a while."
At the words of Mark, who lived next door to Alex, the villagers nodded too.
"But why are you wet?"
"I got into the stream to wash off the scent."
"You've been through a lot. Go change your clothes quickly. You'll catch cold. Leo too."
"Yes."
Having greeted the villagers, Alex took Leo's small hand and headed home. It struck him anew that six-year-old Leo really was tiny.
"Bye! See you tomorrow!"
"Yeah! Take care! Leo!"
To think that this small child, for whom playing with friends was daily life, would grow up so splendidly and become the Hero who struck down monsters and demonkind.
'I'm so proud... no, I shouldn't be.'
He wanted to stop Leo from becoming the Hero.
'...Though it doesn't seem like the kind of thing you can stop just by trying to.'
He would have to do something about it somehow!
Alex resolved.
"Hey, hey, Uncle! Today my friends and I had a contest over who could catch the most fish, and guess who caught the most?"
Leo spoke in a boastful voice, swinging the hand he held with his uncle Alex.
"Hmm... our Leo?"
"That's right! I caught the most!"
Giggling brightly, Leo talked about what he had played today, what he had eaten for lunch, and how well he had run the neighbor granny's errand.
Listening to that chatter, Alex tried to settle the churning in his heart.
The 'future' that was now gone.
Six-year-old Leo would have wanted to tell all of this to the uncle who was to come back from the back mountain.
But what came back was only the corpse of the uncle killed by a wolf.
He had not been able to tell anyone about placing first in the fish-catching contest, or about eating the sandwich he had made himself for lunch, or about running the neighbor granny's errand so well, and had only sobbed and sobbed.
Alex, who had died and become a ghost, could only watch.
As that young face came back to him, Alex could not bear the ache and swept Leo up into his arms. And he held him tight, as tightly as he had not been able to hold him then.
"Our Leo is the best!"
"Whoa! You're cold, Uncle!"
Even as he cried that out, Leo giggled brightly, apparently finding it fun.
"Ah, I'm wet, aren't I? Let's hurry and go change."
"Yeah!"
Alex wanted to spend this time, which he had been given back as though by a miracle, joyfully and happily with Leo.
"Leo. What do you want for dinner?"
"Hmm. Meat!"
"Meat! Good choice!"
[I'd like that too!]
...It would be so nice if only this one weren't here.
He would have to think up a way to get rid of him quickly.
***
Having changed into clothes that were in one piece, Alex and Leo headed for the kitchen to get dinner ready.
On the way he forgot he had a body with substance and bumped into a door and a wall while trying to pass through them, but Leo thought it was a joke and laughed, so Alex ended up laughing too.
By Alex's own reckoning of time, more than a decade had passed, but the kitchen was exactly as it had been in the past.
The stew left over from breakfast and chunks of meat cut into good-sized pieces were well kept.
"I'll get the bread out!"
Leo went to fetch the bread with a practiced air.
"Our Leo, so good."
At his uncle's brimming green eyes, Leo tilted his head, then giggled. It did feel like his uncle was oddly more moved than usual, but come to think of it, his uncle had always been like this.
Alex set a frying pan over the fire. And he was about to put the meat straight on.
[Hold on!]
[You have to season it first!]
[Salt! Pepper!]
If not for Two Hundred cutting in suddenly.
While Leo set bread and forks on the table with his small hands, Alex whispered.
"What is it all of a sudden?"
[It's the first meal I've had in ages, so it has to be good!]
[For a Korean, rice is strength!]
He had no idea what that meant, but he could feel Two Hundred's determination to eat something delicious.
"Have you ever cooked before?"
[Of course!]
[I did it often even after I became a lich.]
[Couldn't taste it, though!]
A lich who cooked.
He could not picture it.
Alex, by contrast, had wandered around with his sister when he was young and had not been able to give food any thought, so even after settling in the village he held to the view that food only needed to be seasoned right and cooked through.
He had fed Leo that way too.
'...And that's how he became a Hero who eats anything without complaint. Our Leo.'
Every time he saw the 'Hero Leo' eating even bad food without complaint, Alex regretted the past in which he had not made him anything delicious.
'Of course, thanks to that he managed all right even when supply lines weren't running properly....'
From now on, Alex thought, he would feed him plenty of delicious food.
[First, season the meat. Sprinkle salt and pepper on it!]
Alex sprinkled the salt as Two Hundred said, though he remained suspicious.
"Pepper's expensive, so we don't have any."
There was no way a commoner farmer's house would have pepper, which sold for its own weight in gold.
[Then nothing to be done.]
[Ah. Don't you have herbs?]
[Something like rosemary.]
At that Alex thought for a moment. It was a bit of a bother, but if the food would turn out delicious as Two Hundred said, it seemed worth it.
"Leo. Can you go to Granny Jessie and borrow some rosemary?"
"Yeah!"
At his uncle's errand, Leo nodded stoutly.
While Leo was out of the house, Two Hundred taught him the recipe.
[First sear one side of the meat over high heat, and when you cook the other side, add butter and herbs and garlic.]
"Garlic? How much?"
[A handful!]
Alex, who had been about to take out two cloves of garlic, froze at Two Hundred's words.
"...How much do you put in?"
[A handful!]
[A whole hand's worth!]
A brief silence passed.
Alex took out two cloves of garlic, as originally planned.
[But garlic is the life of a Korean....]
"It isn't the life of a subject of the Mwihiti Kingdom."
Two Hundred's voice was full of regret, but Alex ignored it. A handful of garlic. Was he trying to ruin the food?
"Uncle! I brought the rosemary!"
"Well done, Leo."
Smiling widely, Alex stroked Leo's head and then began to cook the meat. He flipped the meat seared over high heat and cooked it with butter, rosemary, and the two cloves of garlic.
[Spoon the butter over the meat! Keep doing it!]
Butter? Over the meat?
"This really is suspicious...."
Still, it did not look like this would wreck the food, so Alex spooned the butter over it as Two Hundred said.
"Uncle, what are you doing?"
"Well. They say it tastes better if you do this."
"Whoaa!"
At Leo, who marveled at anything his uncle did, Alex ended up laughing.
"Uncle! It smells delicious!"
[Aaargh! The smell of steak!]
[How many years has it been since I smelled this!!]
Like the thoroughly excited Two Hundred, Alex, smelling delicious food for the first time in twelve years, felt as though he might start drooling without meaning to.
[Now sear the sides too!]
Two Hundred's voice, full of anticipation, grew louder and louder. Leo's blue eyes began to sparkle too.
At last the meat was done.
The meat, seared to a fine golden brown, looked absolutely delicious.
"Let's have dinner now, Leo."
"Yeah!"
[No!]
Two Hundred shouted just then.
[You have to leave it alone about three minutes to make it even better!]
Alex looked back and forth between Leo's sparkling eyes and the meat, then spoke as though sighing.
"Should we make a salad too, Leo?"
Since he had followed Two Hundred's instructions this far, it seemed best to see it through to the end.
"...Yeah!"
At that, Leo, who had been gazing at the meat with eyes full of regret, soon nodded.
Alex and Leo washed some vegetables, cut them up roughly, and poured over the sauce a village lady had given them.
And by the time they sat at the table, the three minutes Two Hundred had spoken of had passed.
"Thank you for the food!"
"Thank you for the food."
[Thank you for the food!]
Of the stew, the bread, the salad, and the meat, the place both of their forks headed was, naturally, the meat.
Unlike the usual, when it was simply grilled, he was curious what meat cooked with all these additions would taste like.
Leo, who stoutly jabbed his fork into the meat and put it in his mouth, felt his plump cheek twitch. At the meat that melted away as though dissolving before he had even chewed it a few times, Leo's eyes sparkled with surprise and happiness.
"Whoa! It's really delicious, Uncle!"
Alex had just been about to put meat in his mouth. Somehow the hand holding the fork was trembling.
He had not eaten food even once since becoming a ghost. Not a single time.
The outdoor meals of Leo and his friends, the unusual dishes of the Mage Tower Federation, the splendid banquets of the Knight Empire, the sacred meals of the Holy Kingdom — Alex the ghost had only been able to watch them, smacking his lips.
And now, at last.
He was able to eat food.
And food cooked in an otherworld style, at that!
At the roast meat, enticing from the smell alone, his mouth felt ready to water on its own.
"Uncle, you're drooling!"
"Urk!"
He had not expected to actually drool.
Alex hurriedly wiped his mouth with an embarrassed face and laughed awkwardly.
"That's because your uncle is very hungry."
"I see! Then eat quickly!"
At the sight of the sweet Leo spearing meat on his fork and holding it out to him, Alex's eyes brimmed with tears.
[Hurry up and eat!]
[Eat it, I said!]
[Shove it in your mouth!]
Listening to Two Hundred's voice, which somehow seemed to be voicing his own inner thoughts exactly, Alex put the meat Leo held out into his mouth.
"...Ah...."
[Aaaaaargh!!!]
The meat, at just the right temperature, parted softly when he pressed with his teeth. The juices and the butter blended and filled his whole mouth. The scent of the rosemary and the scent of the garlic went together perfectly.
Alex chewed very slowly, savoring the taste of the meat.
[Hnnngh... it's fucking delicious.]
Even Two Hundred's voice, so moved that it sounded like crying, could not disturb Alex's appreciation.
"...It's delicious."
It was a taste that filled a soul that had starved for over a decade.
"Right! It's really delicious. Uncle's cooking is the best!"
It seemed to feel that way all the more because Leo, smiling widely with a happy face, was right there beside him.
"Leo, eat plenty."
"Yeah! You too, Uncle!"
As though everything that had passed had been a nightmare, it was a perfectly peaceful, perfectly ordinary evening.
[One more! Quick! One more!]
...Let's ignore him.