The main house’s long dining table was filled with various dishes. There were specialties from all over the continent, delicacies that represented each of the various regions, different types of desserts, and even local dishes with hundreds of years of tradition behind them. It was all organized as a buffet where one could choose whatever one liked to eat without having to worry about the meal’s flow.
Before she had married into the Lionheart family, Ancilla Kaenes had already been part of a prestigious noble family in Kiehl. This might be stating the obvious, but Ancilla, who had received a very proper education from a young age, didn’t exactly enjoy this type of meal setting because it lacked dignity. No, it wasn’t just on the level of not enjoying it; she truly hated it.
However, Eugene liked this sort of meal style.
He hated the style of plating where a few pieces of food would be placed on a large plate with only smears of sauce sprinkled around them, and all of the courses were bite-sized dishes that were served one after another without any seasoning. As such, when Eugene was first adopted into the main house as a foster child, after eating a meal at the main house he would always have to eat another meal upon returning to the annex.
But that was a story from long ago. As he grew older and gained enough influence to have a say in the matter, Eugene managed to persuade Ancilla to accept alterations in the main house’s dining style. He argued that it wasn’t like they got the chance to eat together every day in any case, and since everyone mostly ate outside with only a few chances to return home and have a home-cooked meal, wouldn’t a simpler style of meal be better for everyone?
If Ancilla had retained her past personality that would see her refusing to back down no matter what, there was no way that Ancilla would have readily accepted such an argument, but—
“Try this dish as well,” Ancilla urged softly.
The current Ancilla wasn’t as uptight or as venomous as she used to be.
After becoming the Matriarch of the main house, a position where she couldn’t be looked down upon by anyone, she had become much more relaxed.
Her children had all grown up, and Cyan had been confirmed as the next Patriarch, and he had even become engaged to the golden child[1] of the Ruhr Kingdom.Although she still had Ciel to worry about… was there any wall in this world that couldn’t ultimately be climbed over[2]? Ancilla believed in her daughter’s potential. And if Ciel still couldn’t climb over the said wall, Ancilla believed that her daughter would eventually be able to knock that wall down, even if she had to crash into it dozens or even hundreds of times over.
It was due to all of these factors that Ancilla’s personality had grown softer. She was particularly affectionate at moments like this one when she was taking care of Mer and Raimira. The dozens of desserts that took up a whole side of this huge dining table had been specially prepared by Ancilla to feed Mer and Raimira.
“Really now, you’ve smeared it all over your lips,” Ancilla chided.
Even now, Ancilla was standing beside them, fully absorbed in caring for the two little ones. As she wiped away the cream smeared over the corner of Raimira’s mouth with her handkerchief, Ancilla had a soft smile on her face.
“Hm…,” Eugene awkwardly cleared his throat.
Everyone gathered here was aware of the truth. The fact that those two young girls that Ancilla was caring for so fondly, as if they were her daughters or perhaps granddaughters, were actually several times older than Ancilla, by about two hundred years at the very least. However, none of the gathered people were willing to point out this inconvenient fact or even think about it for too long.
The gathered people… that’s right, there were dozens of people attending this dinner. The only ones actually sitting down at the table might have been Vermouth and the rest of the family members of the main line, but there were dozens of other individuals also present in this room.
Not only were there servants carrying trays of food and utensils and supplying drinks, but also the Captains of the Knights of the White Lion and the Knights of the Black Lion, who were stationed away from the table with their backs to the walls. Moreover, there were even a few retired elders of the Council, though they had also politely refused a seat at the table and were also standing guard with their backs to the walls.
The reason for everyone’s attendance was clear. They were all here to see the Founding Ancestor of the Lionheart clan — a legend who had returned back to life after three hundred years. Everyone here had wanted to see the Great Vermouth with their own eyes. In fact, they had already seen him a month ago, but it was only natural that those who had been there at the time weren’t satisfied with such a short meeting.
So why were only the Captains present? This was because, no matter how large the banquet hall of the Lionheart estate might be, it definitely wasn't large enough to squeeze in the hundreds of knights of the White Lion and the Black Lion knightly orders who had wanted to attend. So among the many, many applicants who had desired to meet the Great Vermouth, those highest in rank were selected for the privilege.
Vermouth awkwardly tried to focus on the food laid out on the table while silently ignoring all the admiring glances that were being directed his way.
Strangely enough, the table in front of Vermouth was filled with traditional dishes that had been passed down over the centuries, particularly those belonging to the local cuisine of northern Kiehl and the Kingdom of Ruhr, and it was also piled high with all sorts of nutritious food.
Vermouth looked at the spread silently.
Had they thought he might be missing the food from the old days since he had been trapped within a seal for the past three hundred years? And had they thought that he probably needed a lot of nutritious food because he wouldn’t have been able to eat anything while he was sealing away the Demon King of Destruction and should thus be sorely depleted of energy? Vermouth could accept the reasoning behind their good intentions, but….
‘There was no need to go this far…,’ Vermouth thought wryly.
Of course, Vermouth didn’t show any trace of this resignation on his face.
While Vermouth was forcing himself to keep eating with a calm expression, Eugene finally faced the question that he had been preparing himself for all night.
“So why did you all come out looking like that?” Ciel asked ever so innocently.
“What do you mean?” Eugene awkwardly feigned ignorance.
He thought that he had prepared himself thoroughly for this question, but when he heard it being voiced, Eugene’s breath caught in his throat, and his mind went blank. As Eugene stubbornly kept his head down, glaring at the food on his plate instead of looking up at his interrogator, Ciel, who was sitting across from him, reached her hand into a pocket with a mischievous smile.
“I’m talking about this,” Ciel said as she took out a neatly folded newspaper.
As he caught sight of that object with a furtive glance, Eugene’s face crumpled as if he had bitten into a mouthful of shit. Eugene naturally knew the contents of Ciel’s newspaper. It was a special edition of the newspaper that had been published all across the continent a month ago.
“Don’t,” Eugene said threateningly.
“What exactly do you think that I’m going to do?” Ciel asked mischievously.
“You’re about to show everyone that picture,” Eugene growled.
“Of course I am,” Ciel admitted with a cheeky grin as she unfolded the newspaper.
A single photo completely covered the front page of the newspaper. It was the photo of the year, one that everyone across the continent would instantly recognize upon seeing. This photo would even serve as a record and representation of this era for the next tens, no, hundreds of years.
“The heroes who saved the continent,” Ciel read out the newspaper headline.
The photo recorded the six heroes who had emerged after defeating the Demon King of Destruction. In the photo, the six people were all standing there with their arms thrown across each other’s shoulders — and no matter how often you looked at it, they still looked like a group of the most awkward people in the world.
Each of them was just standing there stiffly, with their arms around each other’s shoulders, and while they might have what could be called bright smiles on their faces, it somehow all felt artificial.
“I didn’t do that because I wanted to,” Eugene defended himself.
“Then who exactly came up with the idea to do this?” Ciel demanded.
Eugene shook his head and said, “There’s no way I can tarnish my friend’s honor, so please allow me to keep silent on that matter.”
Ciel narrowed her eyes. “You’re the one who came up with the idea, aren’t you?”
“I already said that I wasn’t. Vermouth was the one who suggested the idea,” Eugene quickly sold out Vermouth, who was sitting right next to him.
Because if it was Vermouth of all people who had suggested the idea, then, at the very least, no one in the Lionheart family would be willing to say anything about it.
“I never said anything like that,” Vermouth immediately denied.
Eugene cursed, “You son of a bitch, after all that I’ve done for you and how much I’ve suffered because of you, can’t you just back me up a little?”
“No matter your relationship with him, don’t you think it’s a bit much to curse at our Ancestor right in front of us?” Ciel scolded him.
Indeed, not only Gilead and the other members of the Lionheart family but even the Captains of the two knightly orders who had been watching over the meal, were all showing trembling expressions as they held back the urge to say something.
“I do owe you a lot, Hamel. But while that might be the case, I won’t admit to doing something I haven’t done,” Vermouth muttered.
Crunch.
The knife in Eugene’s hand crumpled like a piece of paper.
“Fine, I am the one who came up with the idea,” Eugene admitted before continuing to shift the blame. “But even so, while I might have suggested coming together as a group, I’m not the one who decided to adopt that particular group huddle. It was Kristina.”
This wasn’t actually a lie. Eugene had been the one to suggest that they should all group up together so that it would be easier to take a picture of all of them, but it was Kristina who had pushed them to put their arms around each other’s shoulders.
“But you must have also felt it was a good idea,” Ciel accused.
“And how would you know whether or not I thought it was a good idea?” Eugene argued back.
“How else would I know? It’s because of the way that you’re smiling in the photo. Doesn’t that mean you were enjoying it?” Ciel teased.
Eugene just sniffed and said, “Sometimes a smile isn’t really a smile.”
Ciel changed the subject, “Did you know? Our Patriarch intends to print an enlarged version of this photo and is going to hang it in the living room.”
“What?!” Eugene yelped.
Ciel continued mercilessly, “It won’t just be at the main estate; copies will also be sent to the Black Lion Castle and the collateral lines as well.”
Eugene’s shoulders shook in fear as he turned to look at Gilead and asked, “Is that true?”
Gilead, who was sipping his glass of wine with a bright smile, nodded his head. “After all, it is such a magnificent picture. It’s also a visual record of that monumental moment and proof that the Demon King of Destruction was defeated and the world was saved. From now on, everyone in the world will think of that picture as why they can continue living in safety each and every day. This picture will be in every textbook that is used to teach the children of the continent about history. And all of the descendants of the Lionheart family will model their future selves on the images of the heroes decorating the walls of this mansion.”
There wasn’t a single trace of insult or mockery in Gilead’s straightforward response. He sincerely believed that this photo just looked that amazing.
In Eugene’s opinion… there were times when Gilead’s aesthetics seemed a touch different from everyone else’s. However, Eugene couldn’t bring himself to actually voice this observation. This was because Eugene still remembered how, more than a dozen years ago, Gilead had told Eugene that he thought that Hamel was the coolest hero.
Eugene tried a different tack. “If you really want a photo to decorate the walls, why don’t you let us take another photo for you—”
Gilead shook his head and said, “Why would I ever need you to do that? This picture is a striking record of that great moment.”
It seemed that persuasion was impossible. Eugene closed his eyes as he swallowed a sigh.
There was nothing he could do. Unless he could return to the past, or destroy the world and recreate it, Eugene wouldn’t be able to stop that photo from continuing to exist far into the future.
‘If I had known this would happen, I would have at least kept my lips shut instead of smiling like an idiot,’ Eugene thought reluctantly.
But it was too late for regrets.
At the moment when Eugene finally decided to submit to the greater will of the world, Carmen was silently staring at Vermouth.
As the representative of both the Council of Elders and the Knights of the Black Lion, she was sitting across from Vermouth.
In fact, apart from Carmen, who else was qualified to sit across from Vermouth? During the battle a month ago, she had hammered away at the cloud of Destruction until her fists had broken. In Carmen’s opinion, she believed that she was the one who had poured out the most attacks against Destruction among those standing outside of the barrier. If the sound of their blows truly had reached the inside of Destruction, the loudest sound should have come from the crack of her fists breaking on that wall.
“Oh Honored Ancestor of our family, the Great Sir Vermouth,” Carmen eventually spoke up.
Composing himself, Vermouth raised his gaze to meet with hers.
While wandering across the continent for the past month, Vermouth had heard all sorts of stories from his comrades. Among the stories he had been told during this time, the name ‘Carmen Lionheart’ had been featured multiple times, but he had never been properly introduced to just what ‘kind’ of person she was. This was because Eugene had intentionally hidden the truth of Carmen’s personality, but Vermouth wasn’t aware of this fact just yet.
Aside from things like her personality, all that Vermouth knew about Carmen was that, excluding Eugene, she was the strongest member of the Lionheart clan. She had also seen through the limitations that Vermouth had intentionally left behind in the White Flame Formula, and she had freely spread her realizations to the rest of the Lionhearts. Also, though it was hard to even imagine this based on her appearance, she was the aunt of the current Patriarch, Gilead, and was still single despite being the eldest member of the Lionheart clan.
“Yes, feel free to ask me anything,” Vermouth politely responded.
Carmen blushed as she said, “No, please, there’s no need to be so polite.”
Vermouth shook his head. “No, there’s no way that I could do that. I know that you are all my descendants, but what qualifications do I have to reappear before you now, three hundred years after faking my death, and insist on being treated as your Ancestor?”
“I’m afraid that it’s difficult for us to understand what you mean by that. Your qualifications? If it wasn’t for you, Oh Ancestor, we Lionhearts wouldn’t even exist,” Carmen argued.
“Lady Carmen. I’m not sure if the records of the kind of person I was have remained intact into the present day, but I definitely wasn’t a caring husband, or even a great father,” Vermouth said, shaking his head with a bitter smile. “At that time, I founded the clan solely out of necessity. I was also the one who built an impenetrable wall between the main line and the collateral lines. Then I deceived everyone by faking my death.”
Carmen tried to argue, “But—”
Vermouth spoke over her, “I am extremely grateful that you, Lady Carmen, and the others here still respect me as the Founding Ancestor of the Lionheart clan. However, I do not want you all to treat me like distant descendants worshiping their Ancestor. After all, it’s because of all of your efforts that the Lionheart clan, which I only created out of necessity, has been able to thrive until the current day. I could remember who I am while in the belly of Destruction… was because all of you kept calling out for me.”
Vermouth’s long response was delivered without hesitation as if he had already thought out his speech in advance.
At some point, the meal had come to a halt. Even the servants had stopped in their tracks and were staring at Vermouth. The Elders and the Captains standing by the walls all looked moved by Vermouth’s speech, and Gilead, Genos, and Gerhard had already started shedding tears.
“Aaah…,” Carmen gasped, experiencing the same emotional reaction. She bowed towards Vermouth, placing both hands on her knees, not wiping away the tears now flowing down her cheeks as she said, “So you really were able to hear our voices, Oh Ancestor.”
Vermouth nodded and said, “That’s right. Even in that thick, pitch-black darkness of Destruction’s stomach, I managed to find myself thanks to your voices calling out my name. It was also thanks to those resounding reverberations that shook Destruction—”
“Reverberations?” Carmen repeated before Vermouth had even finished speaking. Her eyes shone brightly as she shuffled her chair forward and asked, “Just what kind of… reverberations are you talking about?”
Vermouth blinked before answering her question, “The ones from the attacks that were striking the Demon King of Destruction’s outer form—”
“Those attacks!” Carmen excitedly interrupted once more. “Did they really manage to reverberate all the way into the interior of the Demon King of Destruction?”
“Yes, that’s right,” Vermouth said, nodding once more.
“Oh, Ancestor,” Carmen said with a proud smile as she lifted her hands off her knees and placed them on the dining table. Carmen’s hands had already received healing, leaving them pale and unmarred. Still, as she clenched her hands into fists without caring about how badly they had recently been hurt, Carmen revealed, “I shattered my fists during those attacks.”
Vermouth searched through his memories.
He thought back to one month ago, after that… photo… had been taken. As the descendants of the Lionheart clan had all gathered around to see him, the one standing at the front of the crowd had been Carmen. Vermouth certainly did recall that her fists had indeed appeared to be broken and were covered in blood at that time.
“I knew that I wouldn’t be able to directly bring down the Demon King of Destruction with my punches, but I never stopped swinging my fists,” Carmen proudly recalled. “Even after my Dragon Claw was broken, Heaven Genocide had shattered, and my bones had cracked apart, I never stopped punching.”
What exactly were the Dragon Claw and Heaven Genocide? This question arose in Vermouth’s mind, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask her about those terms right now. This was because Carmen’s expression seemed far too serious for him to interrupt her for that.
Carmen declared, “I wanted to lend my fists to the mission of defeating the Demon King of Destruction, saving the world, and opening up a new path for the future. That was the sole purpose that kept driving me as I swung my fists. Among the reverberations you heard, Oh Ancestor… the reverberation created as I broke my fists upon the Demon King definitely had to have been included in them.”
“Lady Carmen Lionheart,” Vermouth said as he stood up from his seat.
Carmen tried to follow him in getting up, but Vermouth shook his head. He then started heading over to Carmen by himself.
“Among the reverberations that I heard, the sound of Lady Carmen’s fists definitely must have been a large part of it,” Vermouth said as he walked around the table towards Carmen. “I can now return to the Lionheart family and can talk and share a meal together with you all like this… it’s all because Lady Carmen and everyone else here shed their blood for my sake.”
“Honored Ancestor…,” Carmen called out in a tearful voice, causing Vermouth to smile gently.
Now standing next to Carmen, Vermouth placed his hand on her fist. “It is true that I am the Ancestor of the Lionheart clan, but I don’t want any of you to call me Ancestor. I want you all to call me by my name, Vermouth Lionheart. As a fellow member of the Lionheart clan, and as a member of our family.”
“ Aaaah… !” Carmen gasped, her body trembling as if she had been struck by lightning when Vermouth’s hand was placed on her fist. She stared at Vermouth with trembling eyes as she tried to control her rapid breathing, “Fa… family…!”
Vermouth nodded with a smile. “Yes, aren’t we family? We both share the same Lionheart name—”
“Fa-father,” Carmen suddenly stammered out, causing Vermouth’s eyes to widen in surprise. Carmen continued, “Would it be alright… for me to call you father?”
“Huh?” Vermouth gaped in confusion.
“After all… didn’t you say we are family? Oh Ancestor — no, Sir Vermouth, you are my father’s father’s father’s father’s father… in other words, you could be called my father many times removed,” Carmen insisted.
It wasn’t exactly all that false a claim.
Vermouth hesitated, “But… being called father by you, Lady Carmen, isn’t that—”
“I already consider you my father, Sir Vermouth,” Carmen passionately declared.
“Even if that’s the case…,” Vermouth struggled to find a way out of this.
“Sir Vermouth, you are the father of all Lionhearts. Aaaah , the reason that my broken fist was healed back then… it was all so that I could feel a father’s touch on my hands,” Carmen began to shed tears once more as the warmth of their blood and flesh connection seemed to pass through Vermouth’s hand into her fist. “Please, grant me permission, Sir Vermouth, to call you my father….”
Vermouth’s eyes shook in violent consternation. It was difficult for him to understand how the conversation that they had just been having could have turned out like this.
However, her earnest eyes and the words, ‘father’s father’s father’ and ‘the father of all Lionhearts,’ seemed to be exerting a subtle persuasive power over Vermouth.
“If… if that’s what you want, then fine,” Vermouth gave in.
“Father…!” Carmen cried out, her fists loosening so she could tightly grab hold of Vermouth’s hand.
Her biological father had already left this world a long time ago. However, even her late father would surely be happy in the afterlife to see that the Great Vermouth had become her new father.
“There are so many things that I want to do with you, Father,” Carmen excitedly informed him.
“Ah, is that right…,” Vermouth awkwardly agreed.
“As your daughter, may I personally pour you a drink[3]?” Carmen offered.
Vermouth hesitated for a few moments before shooting Eugene a glance.
It was a silent plea for help to get out of this difficult situation that Vermouth had found himself in, but seeing the grin on Eugene’s face, it seemed like there weren’t going to be any helping hands incoming. Instead, something else made its way to him.
In place of a helping hand, what was approaching Vermouth was an empty wine glass. Vermouth glared at Eugene as he caught the glass that the latter had slid across the table.
“Congratulations on your new daughter,” Eugene said, clapping his hands as he watched Vermouth accept a drink from Carmen with a complex expression on his face.
1. The original text literally translates to jade leaves on a golden branch and is an archaic way of describing the descendants or family of royalty. In modern usage, the phrase is used to describe a favored child of a family. ☜
2. The original text uses the idiom: any tree in this world that can’t be climbed in the same context. ☜
3. In Korean culture, younger relatives pouring drinks for older relatives is an important display of filial piety. ☜
Openbookworm & DantheMan's Thoughts
OBW: How long before Eugene starts seeing that photo on t-shirts? He’ll never be able to escape it. Just like Vermouth won’t be able to escape his new daughter.