Chapter 2486: [Bonus] Fairytale

[Bonus chappy thanks to Mr. Ham <3 (1/6) --

"Unacceptable."

These were the first words Miel said in regard to Leonel's proposed plan. The idea of trusting Leonel to carry everyone out of here was grating on his nerves. It might be in one part due to the fact it was Leonel, but it was mostly due to the fact that he was the one who was tasked with protecting these people in the first place. The fact that he was now being asked to rely on a young man a fraction of his age to do what he should have been able to do was more of a blow to his ego than he was willing to take.

Of course, Miel, much like anyone else, had an ego, but it was deeper than just that as well. His admission that his ego played a role was him trying to check himself and truly come to understand where all the root of this was coming from. But the main truth was that...

He simply didn't trust Leonel.

It wasn't just about Leonel's incompetence. He just didn't like Leonel's character, and he didn't believe that this was a young man good enough for his daughter, let alone to lead them all out of here and take on the weight of thousands of lives.

Leonel claimed to love his daughter, but he had also dared to say those cruel words to her back then. He had seen Leonel's gaze back then, a gaze so cold and detached from everything in the world, a gaze that looked as though it was gazing upon not a woman pouring out his heart to him, but rather an annoying fly he wanted to swat out of his way.

He didn't care about what reasons Leonel might have had. He didn't believe that any man should act like that toward a woman he had even a modicum of respect toward. It shouldn't have been within the fiber of his being to even think of doing such a thing.

No matter how he looked at it, he felt that Leonel wasn't worthy of his respect, his trust or his daughter.

And yet there was Aina, sitting silently by his side.

He had expected his daughter to be angry on his behalf, or at the very least, try to mediate the situation. But she did neither. It was as though she had already picked a side, and that side wasn't the side of her father.

He knew that children were meant to grow up. He knew that they were meant to leave the side of their parents and grow on their own. He even agreed that a husband and wife's greatest reliance should be on one another, if parents were too involved in such a relationship, it would work out poorly for all parties involved.

He just... he just didn't want it to be Leonel. And Leonel's response only seemed to prove him right.

"Alright. We'll be leaving then. Any deaths that happen will be on your hands."

Leonel didn't seem surprised by Miel's response, he didn't seem enraged, he didn't even try to rebuttal or argue. It was as though he didn't care about the lives of those people at all, and after making a token effort, he patted his butt and was ready to go.

If he really believed that he was the only chance for these people to survive, shouldn't he try harder? Shouldn't he do more? But he thought that they should believe him with just a single sentence?

Miel felt his temper flaring up again. He probably would have attacked already had it not been for his daughter sitting right there. He felt so much rage that he thought he might explode.

In the end, he was so infuriated he laughed as Leonel got up.

Leonel was going to ignore the laughter entirely, until Miel spoke.

"You have the heart of a demon. You supposedly believe you're the only chance for these people to live, and yet your aren't even willing to say more than a sentence. One day my daughter will realize the kind of person you really are and leave you."

Miel didn't say words to convince his daughter to leave Leonel.

How many times had he heard similar words from his own parents? They had begged, they had pleaded, they had warned and advised, but had it mattered?

Love wasn't something you could force someone to change. You could only hope to give them the tools to realize on their own.

As far as he saw it, his daughter was much more powerful than Leonel anyway. At the very least, she wasn't being forced to stay. If she was, even if it meant killing Leonel, he would have already attacked with lethal intent.

Leonel turned back and met Miel's gaze. He didn't seem enraged by the claims, and was instead very calm.

"Let me lay out something very clearly so that you understand. I'm a fan of explaining things, so take this as a special event triggered just for you. Just now, do you have any idea how much danger I put myself in just to appear and battle on your behalf?"

Miel stood stone-faced, clearly not planning to answer.

"There are probably people who've taken note of my existence already, people who've taken note of Aina as well. And for what? To save a group of people who're rotting away their existence in a city that hasn't allowed them to see the light of day in years? You probably don't know this," Leonel continued, "but one of the fissures between me and your daughter to begin with was because I kept constantly putting myself in the line of danger in order to save people unrelated to me. Don't you find it very ironic that her father is now asking me to do exactly that?"

Leonel continued to meet Miel's gaze, completely unwavering.

"In just a handful of months, I've already dealt the human alliance more losses than your Slayer Legion has in decades. Their farming project? Destroyed by me. The future of the Godlens? In my hands. And just now, if not for my actions, your little underground city would have already been wiped off the map. You want me to save people? I already did. I'm not going to overextend myself for the sake of your ego or your fairytale."