Leonel's expression darkened. Aina's own, which had just been filled with embarrassment, almost instantly became as still as a lake. If it wasn't for the fact that she had just been so animated, one would think that she was nothing more than a statue, a puppet that was completely unaffected by the outside world.
A cold wind swept through the grounds.
In truth, not many were paying attention to the situation. Though Aina and Leonel had just appeared out of seemingly thin air, so had everyone else who had come to this place. In fact, even to this very moment, there were still more youths popping up, looking wide eye'd toward the massive pillars on either side of the mountain pass.
With this concentration of people, there were no doubt several conversations happening at once, especially since those from similar worlds had been teleported to the same spots much like Leonel and Aina.
This was all to say that this singular sentence hardly traveled a few meters before getting lost in the hustle and bustle of the excited youths around them. In fact, it was very likely that the person who spoke these words didn't even mean for Leonel and Aina to hear them in the first place, they were just mocking and jeering from within their friend group.
Yet, at that moment, Leonel's gaze turned toward the voice, easily able to pinpoint it amidst the sea of noise.
The young woman who had spoken was dressed in an attire identical to Aina, as were all the women accepted into Valiant Heart Mountain. Though, there seemed to be a very poor ratio of men to women in this place. There were at least five or six males to every one female.
Unlike Aina, though, this young woman seemed to lean into her sexuality. Her cloth belt was extremely loose, allowing her pants to just barely hang from her hips. At the same time, whereas Aina's cloth wrap was large enough to even cover a portion of her belly, this woman seemed to have chosen to fold her own as narrowly as possible, causing two round protrusions to be just barely visible from the bottom.
It was most definitely this heavenly flavor of underboob that had caused males even from other worlds to flock around her like a den of wolves. Even those males who weren't as confident in their strength observed her from a distance, trying to sneak a few more peeks in as they bet on how many rounds of battle she could last without exposing a little nipple.
Leonel gaze made the young lady accidentally bite her tongue, her pupils trembling slightly.
As expected, she really hadn't thought that Leonel would hear her. But, seeing his reaction made her feel as though her head had been dunked into a vat of ice.
When she saw that Leonel was a man, though, she seemed to shake herself awake. Maybe she would have been scared if Aina was the one exuding this kind of pressure, but what male would deem to harm her?
'Hmph, maybe his world is filled with ugly women or something. To be so handsome yet pick out such a tramp, is he blind?'
The young woman stuck her chest out more prominently as though to provoke Leonel into dropping his seething rage.
Originally, the young lady had only commented off handedly, not planning on confronting Aina personally. After all, she wasn't a fool, she had no idea the kind of background these people had, nor did she understand anything about their tempers. Plus, on top of that, she was a genius in her own right, she wouldn't be so bored as to go out of her way to bully someone without cause.
But now that her off handed joke had been accidentally heard, she also had no intention of backing down. This was Valiant Heart Mountain, a place where the strong thrived and the weak got eaten. If she showed weakness now, her future was practically finished.
However… The glaze-over affect her ample breasts and outrageous curves usually had seemed to fall completely flat in the face of Leonel.
With a step forward, Leonel's minor action seemed to cause the ground to quake. In an instant, what was a situation hardly anyone paid attention to had suddenly become the center of focus.
The young lady's expression changed, not expecting Leonel to suddenly react like this.
Before she could think of how to react, though, several men stepped forward to block Leonel's path just as Aina grabbed onto Leonel's forearm.
Leonel frowned and looked back.
"You cause trouble everywhere you go." Aina said lightly. "Just leave it alone, it's not a big deal."
Leonel's brow furrowed.
Aina's lip curled. "What? You suddenly gain a little bit of strength and think it's okay to hit women now? Should I fear for myself? Maybe I should just forget about us…"
By the end of her words, Aina looked as though she was on the verge of tears.
"Ah…!"
Leonel didn't know what to say. Sure, he had learned throughout his youth to never put hands on a woman, but that was back when their strength couldn't be compared to a man's. In this new world order… even this petite Aina's physical strength was greater than his own.
Leonel was a very logical person, so the moment the foundation for his protective spirit toward women was no longer there, he likewise had no qualms about hitting and even killing them. In fact, he had already done so with a fair few from Joan all the way to Pisces.
Where was the justice? How was he getting bullied for trying to defend his own woman?
Leonel shook his head.
"You win! You win! Don't cry!"
Leonel's switch from murder machine to simping boyfriend was so abrupt that hardly anyone knew how to react. However, no one felt it more acutely than the young lady herself who suddenly had a massive weight taken off her shoulders. If it wasn't for support she got from another rare female and friend, she would have collapsed.
When she looked back up, her gaze was filled with resentment as she gazed toward Leonel's back.
She clenched her fists, her eyes practically spewing fire.. Seeing such a scene, the men who had gathered to protect her didn't seem intent on backing off after being instigated by Leonel.