173. Better Present

It was February, the season was currently winter and carpet of snow outside was making sure everyone remembers this as a fact. 

The temperature was cold, and the need to regularly shovel the roads were done by the Colt’s Platoon. There was no war, so doing odd jobs secured by the Young Master, let them extra cash for their families — there were some complaints about waking up too early but no one left.

Colt was together with Hylda surveying the soldiers if they were doing their work, this was one of the reasons why no one said anything against this fight. But the real reason was because of the fat cat that was walking beside Colt.

This cat was the bane of one of the strongest Platoon. Behind the Father, daughter, and cat trio would be Lopre and Sera.

“The completion of the shovelling should end. I have checked each and every one of them, and I can say that they did a pretty good job, and they only did it in under an hour.” Sera said in a flat tone.

“That is good, then,” Colt answered.

“Young Master, are you sure you want the troops to have pain vacation? We don’t really need one.” Lopre asked after Sera finished her report, 

Colt shot him a glance and then shouted aloud, “The Platoon Leader does not want to have Vacation, does anyone agree!?”

“NO!” indignant voices echoed all over the city, the desires of the soldiers were clear. After more than half a year of constant training, they wanted a break. Lopre didn’t, but Colt pitied them and decided to give them one anyway.

Colt turned to Lopre, “Well, it appears the others say otherwise. Well, do not mind their decision, If you want to, then you can continue training army formations, though you’ll have to do that yourself.”

“That’s…”

“See, you know that it is impossible, so why bother trying to say otherwise? If the soldiers are too overworked, they would not be able to do their duties well, a good soldier knows not only to serve but also rest.” Colt argued, and the nearby Platoon members nodded their heads, “Try not to be so strict, soldiers they may be, they still have a life of their own. Some of them have lovers, and others want to marry and build a family, don’t take those away from them.”

The Soldiers of Colt’s Platoon who heard his words nodded their words, and invisible tears fell, ‘FREEDOM AT LAST!!!’ were the thoughts they had. Though they did not spend too much time with the Young Master, they gravitating towards him ever so closer. Even without him supervising them, they still find themselves honoured at serving him.

The Hero of the South, that was their General, and as they have seen his routine, they doubt they can say anything about him being anything but hard-working.

“Well, the only thing I am trying to say is that give soldiers time with their families, they still need to rest their minds. Captain Lopre, how about you? Do you not have anyone you want to spend time with? Your wife and children, perhaps.”

“I am not married and I… do not have anyone to call a lover, Young Master. My parents have already gone to the other side, and I the doctor said I need to abstain from drinking, so I have nothing much to do.” Lopre said, and silence pervaded the air. 

‘That explains a lot.’ Colt stopped his steps and turned to Lopre and patted his shoulders, “You need this vacation more than anyone, Captain.”

Colt turned towards the location of the rising sun and found it pleasing to the eye that everything was going well. There had not been a problem since… well, no problem other than Lopre’s sad personal life, ‘This guy needs some serious help.’

Colt wished him the best. The vacation of the Platoon would last for two weeks, but the soldiers would still continue shovelling the snow during the morning, or else Colt will retract the decision, ‘They are Rank-5 Warriors, now, this would be a breeze for them.’ That was Colt’s reasoning for this, and he was right.

The soldiers celebrated, and Colt went back home to his family. He already finished his morning routine with Hylda.

The days continued; Colt spent his time with his family. Hylda learned how to bake sweets together with Reis or otherwise known as the Chick, and temporarily replaced Mina as the provider of snacks… Hylda was becoming more effeminate by the day, which caused Colt to be delighted and worried at the same time.

‘The more Hylda becomes a lady, doesn’t that mean the farther down Arte be attracted to my growing daughter?’ And Colt stand corrected as Arte became ever-energetic, Colt became worried about this original hero, but as he watched Hylda, who was also improving at an unprecedented rate, Colt felt terrible for the fellow.

But when he saw Arte’s glowing eyes, he thought that getting beaten up was his kink or something close to that, ‘Is he a masochist, perhaps?’ that was his thoughts. But disregarded it as Arte showed no such behaviour in the original novel, unless~… ‘Nah, can’t be… or could it be?’ Colt was confused about this original hero’s preferences. 

In the end, Colt chose to stop intervening because he thought that would be the most grown-up thing to do. Arte was growing away from being the gloomy hero of the story and was smiling more often.

He who had been tortured already seemed to have forgotten most of his past, as he began to socialize with the maids and the guards, even helping around the mansion from time to time. Arte was slowly becoming more outgoing, and all of it could be contributed to him falling for Hylda.

‘I wonder, in the original timeline, Hylda wasn’t really mentioned… but if she was meet him there, would he change and open up like this?’ he thought of the possibility and shook his head as it was too farfetched and had little to no evidence to back this up.

‘Well, even if I don’t do anything, two spoilers of a grandfather would step in to remind Arte of his position. The two grandfathers were above him. I wonder, when will the two realize that they’re only helping Arte train. Father and Pops are too much… I’m still not used to calling Father-in-law that.’

Long story short, Colt enjoyed seeing others change for the best and have a brighter smile than they had and should have.

As he stood in a balcony alone, with his hands on his back, Colt took in a deep breath as he seemed satisfied with his work.

Then as he was revelling with his odd, but good work, he felt it, a heavy presence appearing from out of nowhere. 

‘Mana?’ the Mana was dense and extremely fast-moving, and because of this, Colt knew he would not be able to warn anyone so, he called upon the World Devouring Mark and hoped that he would be able to hold out if he was to absorb this amount.

As he drew the Ocean’s Black Heart from its sheathe, Colt looked ahead and saw a glimmering green light, and before he could even react, the green light already reached him.

Colt could not quite see who it was, but he knew that it was Healing Mana. To the best of his ability, Colt used his left hand to parry the assailant and BAM!

CRASHED!

He had the person crashing to the wall nearby. The wall was destroyed as the fellow was thrown into another room. 

‘Is it, Horus? Either way, I need to dispose of this fellow before having anyone get caught up in the fight.’ Colt recalled the only enemy he had encountered with Healing Mana, and before he could confirm, he had already made his move through the spreading smoke and attempted to swing his sword.

A white light appeared on his forehead, and every bit of hesitation disappeared. He saw the neck of the person who came to assassinate him and then swung his sword to end the conflict.

Colt’s sword was quick, and as it sliced through the air. But as it was moving through the air, its path was discovered and was knocked upwards, by a measly fist. 

‘What the?’ Colt saw this and tried to recover his momentum by delivering a kick to the chest, but his foot was easily caught. 

Seeing this, Colt was prepared to try something he had been practising, he connected to a channel of strength and began pulling power from this source.

Overwhelming power appeared in his body and as embarrassing as it may have been, Colt whispered, “God Manifesta…”

Colt was prepared to risk everything to get rid of the assailant. However, his words stopped as the smoke disappeared and he saw the face of this assailant.

“Miss Cille?”

Colt saw a Lucille holding onto his foot while trying to wipe her tears away, “D-does Mina hate me for missing her wedding so much that she wants me dead?”