The Max Level Hero Strikes Back!

“What kind of idiot dies intentionally? How can you say that? Stop it.
From this day on, I do not want to speak to a heartless person like you.”

“Illyna.”

“I have nothing more to say.
Please go if you are not going to mourn Big Brother.
Right now!”

“Sigh…”

Illyna glared at Sullivan, who backed away with a sigh, and hugged the former Crown Prince’s body, which was so clean that it looked like it could wake up at any moment.

The former Crown Prince’s body was missing a heart; would the heart disappear while everything else remained intact when someone became an Undead? That probably wasn’t it.
Davey could only suspect that Deian, the King of the Dead, or Grell Orfan had done something before they could get to the body.
However, Davey had no way to figure out the reason behind why they would do such a thing.

“You have quite a smooth tongue.
I will just pretend that I don’t know about this,” Davey commented.

“I have no idea what you are talking about.
Let’s leave it at that since I am not in a good mood either.”

Davey silently stared at Sullivan, who backed away from Illyna and approached him.

Sullivan just smiled bitterly and shook his head.
“I am the complete opposite of my big brother.
I never wanted him to die, but objectively speaking, it seems like I will become the Crown Prince since Big Brother, who was always at odds with me, has passed away.”

Davey turned away, thinking that Sullivan was being suspicious.

Then, Saintess candidate Lena walked toward the cremating area in a classic white court robe and hat.
She had other priests following her in a straight line.
Upon their appearance, the murmuring crowd fell silent and the atmosphere was solemn.

Toot!!

When the armored knights blew into their heavy horns, everyone in attendance lowered their heads in silence.
Although they might not be that sad, they were pretending to be as it was the former Crown Prince.

Ring!

The silent deliverance ceremony began.

Any funeral that was influenced by the Holy Empire would be held in this manner, and this funeral at the Pallan Empire was no exception.

The priest did a dance of mourning for the soul before cremation.
This particular dance and prayer were in hopes that the soul would be embraced by God.
Saintess candidate Lena’s movements were rather rigid, but her sadness and mournful heart still shone through.

Ring!

When the holy stone shone and the bell on her staff rang, a cluster of white light began to appear around Saintess candidate Lena.
The illuminating light then surrounded the Crown Prince’s body and spread all around.
Only then did it shoot up into the sky as pillars of light.

The only thing that could be heard from the gloomy, dark, and solemn atmosphere was the swishing of Lena’s robe and the ringing of the bell on her staff.

Davey could see Illyna covering her mouth and watching the ceremony with red eyes.

The silent cremation ceremony proceeded on.
It should have ended with the cremation of the body once the deliverance ceremony came to an end.
However…

“O… Oh… No… No!”

A problem arose as soon as the deliverance ceremony ended.
Saintess candidate Lena backed away when Illyna ran past the knights who were walking up to the body with torches in their hands for the cremation.

Illyna, holding onto the cold body, began to cry.
“Oh… Oh! Big Brother! Please open your eyes, Big Brother… Weep… I… It was all my fault.
It was all my fault and I will stay by your side… So please… Open your eyes? Hm? Big Brother!”

“You cannot do this.
Your Highness!”

“Let go!! Weep… Sob!! Big Brother… Big Brother! It was all my fault! It was all… Sob… Sob…”

Davey felt for the wailing Illyna, who had abandoned all objectivity and logic.

[Mother! Please open your eyes! Please do not die! You promised we would live a long life together!]

Illyna hugged the Crown Prince’s cold body and cried with no regard for the surprised looks she was getting from the crowd.
The people could almost feel her bitterness just by looking at her.

—You…do not look good.

“Stupid memories.”

Considering his time as a soul, Davey had memories from over a thousand years.
He couldn’t shake off the bitterness that had been ingrained in him, especially when it came to traumatic memories.

‘They say pain that cannot be dealt with does not ever get better, but just gets pushed down with time.’

That was probably why Davey still felt sorrow when he thought back to that time.
He had only regained the memories of his previous life a few years after that unfortunate incident, so he always wondered if he could have stopped that situation from happening if he had regained his memories in time.

“Let go! Big Brother! Big Brother! It’s me, Illyna! The younger sister that you cared for so much! Please…” Illyna sobbed, letting out all of the sorrow she had tried to hide.

Everyone was watching Illyna.
The female attendees of the funeral turned away with red eyes.
Even the male attendees, who were less emotional than the women, had turned away with a sigh.

“Sniffle… Don’t do this.
Your Highness… The Crown Prince won’t be able to leave with a good heart if you cry like this?” Saintess candidate Lena hugged Illyna and pulled her away with red eyes.

Illyna sobbed even while being dragged out of the cremation area.
She struggled and yelled, “No! I have so much left to say to Big Brother! I couldn’t even tell him that I love him because I was too embarrassed to! I can’t let him go like this!”

Illyna’s desperate struggle was too much for Saintess candidate Lena to handle, so the White Bird knights who were under Illyna’s lead had to step in.

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

“Your Highness.
Please forgive my impertinence.”

“Let go!! I will behead you all!”

“Please just have our necks!”

When the knights shouted firmly and pulled Illyna away, Sullivan nodded with a stern face.
Then, the knights slowly walked back up to the cremation area and ignited the thin twigs and tinder.

“Ah… Ah… No!!!!”

Illyna, who collapsed to the ground in sorrow, tried to jump into the fire.

Slap!! 

Just as Illyna was about to, Sullivan approached her and slapped her cheek.
He shouted, “You fool!”

“…” Illyna glared at Sullivan.

Sullivan clenched his jaw and had his hand on his sword.
He addressed the knights, “Take Illyna away.
Watch her so that she cannot leave the room until the funeral has ended.”

“…” The knights of the White Bird looked away.

“What are you doing? You are Illyna’s knights, but you are ignoring the command of the future Crown Prince? I will lock you up for treason if you want,” Sullivan said coldly.
He looked like he was going to bisect the knights if they refused his order.

The knights closed their eyes in resignation.
Then, they helped the sobbing Illyna up and went away.

“My apologies for showing you something so unpleasant.”

The attendees looked surprised by Sullivan’s unexpected heartlessness when he bowed to them with a calm expression.
They fell silent.

Watching the Crown Prince’s body burn, Davey tapped the empty space silently and retrieved a large staff.

Thud…

Davey lightly swung the large staff before tapping it on the ground.

[7th Circle]

[Rain Custom]

Then, he put a paper charm between his fingers and closed his eyes.

[Seal of the Vermillion Bird]

[Fire of a Ritual]

Rain began to fall from the sky, but the flames continued to burn.

The weather had been gloomy, but it didn’t seem like it was going to rain.
However, it was certainly raining heavily now.

The attendees were flustered by the sudden rainfall, but no one got wet as they were sheltered by a waterproof tent.
However…

“My consideration ends here.
I will have to go on my way now.
The fire will not go out.
I pray that the soul will be able to reach the Goddess’ heart.”

“Thank…you,” Sullivan whispered.
He silently stared at the body under the heavy rainfall.

—Sorry?

‘There are times when royals have to hold in their tears even if they don’t want to.
Don’t worry about it.’

Davey could not help but click his tongue.

[Sob… Hup… Sob.]

Davey could hear someone trying very hard to hold in their sobs until he left the place.

* * *

Illyna was locked in a huge room, since she was a princess.
The room was guarded by the knights.

“Open the door,” Davey said calmly.

“No one is able to enter.
Go back.”

“Open the door.”

The knights looked displeased.
“Your Highness, I know it is impertinent, but I cannot let you inside the room where Her Highness is all alone.”

“Then, take a good nap.”

The moment the knights were flustered by Davey’s smile, their eyes rolled backward and they fell to the ground.
Davey felt a little bad for them, but he couldn’t bring himself to just leave.

Creak!!

What Davey saw when he opened the door was Illyna blankly staring at the rain while sitting on the large bed.
He said, “You’re miserable.”

“Davey…” Illyna turned to look at Davey without her usual spirit.
She mumbled, “Big Brother…”

“People die someday.”

“…”

“But I won’t say that this time.
Sorry for your loss.”

“…Thanks.
And sorry.
I showed you a bad side of me.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry about; it’s natural to be sad when a loved one dies.”

Pitter patter!!

The heavy rainfall sounded so loud.

“It’s raining… Is it Big Brother’s tears? I…have a lot I wanted to tell him…”

Illyna just shared a cringey expression, but she was not objective enough to realize that yet.

“Don’t be stupid.
Rain falls when the water in the sky exceeds a certain weight.”

Illyna frowned.
“I will give you a two out of ten if that was to make me laugh.”

“I’m not here to make you laugh or to watch you be miserable.
So, look over here.”

Davey pulled out a paper charm and slapped it onto Illyna’s forehead.

“Kyahh! What are you…?”

“You said you have things you wanted to say.”

When given the opportunity, Illyna should say everything that she wanted to say.

“Don’t you think the other person would have a lot they want to say as well? It’s a maximum of five minutes, so say everything you want to say during that time.”

Illyna widened her eyes.
She flinched just as she was about to remove the paper charm.

—…

There was no response.

“I am a looter.
I have just hijacked your soul, which is on the ring of reincarnation.”

Although the word ‘hijack’ did not exist in this world, that was not at all important.
The other person didn’t have to understand.

Davey had gone through a little bit of trouble to call upon the former Crown Prince’s soul again.
Then, he stared at Illyna and warned her, “Remember, five minutes.
After five minutes, other souls that are on the ring with the Crown Prince will be affected.
Your soul will become unstable, too.”

Illyna, who was frozen, mumbled in surprise, “Big… Brother?”

Of course, Davey could not hear the Crown Prince, but his voice had most likely reached Illyna.

[8th Circle Dark Magic]

[Voice of Salvation]

This magic spell was made by a necromancer who had entered the 8th Circle after having desperately tried to revive their deceased significant other by twisting the law of the ring of reincarnation.

It had a huge cost, so this wasn’t something that a mortal could do.
But thanks to Goddess Freyja, Davey did not have to put in as much effort to make this happen for Illyna.

However, it was unknown whether Davey was trying to save Illyna or Goddess Freyja was just showing off her abilities to get Davey to accept her position as God.

“D… Davey? Am… Am I dreaming right now?” Illyna mumbled in disbelief.

Davey thumped Illyna on the head.

‘This woman doesn’t know that time is of the essence.’

“This is why you have to show people you care about them when they are around.
Remember, five minutes.
Close your eyes and mouth once the music ends.
Any more conversation than that and you will die too,” Davey reminded Illyna.

Back then, Davey hadn’t been able to show his mother that he cared for her.
He would forever regret that.

Since it seemed like Illyna and the former Crown Prince had been especially close, and if she was forever going to regret not being able to say her last words, there was no reason for Davey to not help her with the power that he had.

“…”

Illyna did not answer him, so Davey left her behind and sat on the chair on one side of the room.
Then, he rummaged through his Pocket Plane, pulled out a small flute, and closed his eyes.
“May the dead soul walk the path of relief, let go of its memories, and live a new life.”

With a calm prelude, a soft and gentle tune flowed out of Davey’s flute.

‘I really don’t like this requiem genre, but…’

Davey had no choice but to calm the hijacked souls down.
If he didn’t do this, the souls would all suffer from seizures at once.

‘Everyone line up.
I will play you a magical performance created by a minstrel who once made dead souls dance.’

Sorcery was more stable when dealing with human souls, but this was better than nothing.

As the solemn and slow requiem flowed out from Davey’s flute, Illyna slowly smiled.
She bit her lip and held in her tears.
The very first thing that she wanted to show the person who was leaving was a smile, so they would not have to worry when crossing to the other side.