"But such a powerful hero, I have never heard of before... Whose son is he?"

"You're talking about the boss? Leoz Dominet, Chinese name Li Aozi. Well, he doesn't really count as any kind of nobility."

Gio Zieou shrugged:

"We both came from the same state..."

How many hundreds of times, or tens of millions of times, has he repeated this?

Yet Rednaya was still willing to listen.

She unconsciously put her hands behind her back, continuing to play these role-playing games.

"With such a simple origin, he could become the warrior who defeated the Demon legion?"

"Yes."

"When did he enlist?"

"You put me in a difficult spot, Gio Zieou... Probably two years, no, sixteen months ago."

"Where did he study prior to that? As far as I know, only the Yankees' Free States in North America have three institutions and colleges that teach magic."

"No studies, both of us graduated from the village high school. He inherited his family's blacksmith shop and kept working until the demons invaded North America and everyone from the village fled. Us rural youths had no livelihood, so we could only follow the warlords, fighting our way around, and that's how we ended up here."

What, "Phoenix City's people met traitors, Leoz cunningly kills [Bishop]", "North Carolina battles [Player], South Carolina surrenders [Writer]", "[Hairdresser] loses halberd at Alabama, [Engineer] retreats to Florida"...

Generally speaking, once Leoz left his hometown, he started as a blacksmith in the army, hammering away as he went, fighting battles as expected, defeating many corrupt enemies from the Outer Realm, and reached this point.

Although the deputy recounts quite a colorful tale, he quickly noticed that prosecutor Alicxia increasingly showed a look of 'Are you joking?'."

"... Don't you believe it?"

Gio Zieou asked.

Rednaya blinked.

In her impression, Gio Zieou seemed to not have said such things. But before she could think about it thoroughly, she adeptly recited the dialogue:

"The demon invasion of this world has nearly been going on for thirty years now, and the research into demons, combat skills, and spells is no longer a secret. Apart from a few nuclear weapons, the only effective resistance to demons in this world is the demonized knights who have undergone surgical modification."

"Oh, he hasn't had surgery."

"You can tell just by appearances, if truly implanted with demon organs and limbs, it's absolutely impossible to maintain a human form."

"But, I still don't understand."

Rednaya feigned pondering for a moment:

"Where does his strength truly come from?"

Clearing the battlefield was already deep into the night.

The knights invited the disguised and camouflaged Rednaya to accompany them.

Gio Zieou, as usual, warmly treated her. Rednaya remained the same as before. Instead of staying in the tent, she wandered around, interacting with these rough men.

Oshen, as ever, complained about the tension between the navy and army, passionately discussing his love for the ocean.

Elevent talked to her about some spell research, the formulas had changed a bit, but largely matched his memory.

"It's love."

Night Fighting Sword drank, giving her a strange explanation.

"Dragon?"

Rednaya showed surprise and instinctively said:

"You can't call him a dragon's offspring just because he's half Han Chinese, right? If today's Great Ming Emperor Zhu were truly a dragon, how could he have accepted constitutional politics and let the Grand Secretary lead the cabinet?"

"Not dragon, it's love."

Night Fighting Sword belched full of alcohol, gazing and chuckled:

"Love for this world, love for life, that's precisely the reason Leoz is invincible."

.........

Rednaya clearly sensed that something had changed.

She kept quiet, waiting to see what had transformed.

"Though it might sound like an utterly... dull argument." Night Fighting Sword deflated: "Usually, shouldn't it be something like, gaining ancient inheritance after falling off a cliff, a wise old man in a ring, miraculous luck, eating a mysterious fruit, or even getting struck by lightning and hit by a dump truck, people think they can accept those, what counts as love?"

But after saying all this, nobody continued the conversation.

Oshen silently bowed his head, Elevent idly fiddled with the bonfire.

A heavy male voice came from behind her:

"So you're not completely a cold-blooded beast, Redd Gold."

This voice, she had heard it at some point.

Rednaya tilted her head.

All memories evaporated like smoke before her eyes, returning her to reality.

Under Kamchatka Peninsula's freezing aurora flash, her body lay collapsed in the snow, [Emperor]'s battle axe slashed her neck, while that man stomped on her chest.

Hooded bandage man. Or rather [Mysterious Origin] Spikect, kindly added a few logs to the bonfire, turned, and inquired:

"This is Rednaya's plan before leaving this world: to give Leoz a truly wonderful life and completely exchange their lives."

"Ha, this way, Arstala won't choose Him, but her, the traitor instead."

[Emperor] Anpolo trampled Rednaya's chest, scornfully said:

"Look at you, Redd, how pathetic you look now. Is this your plan? Trading a dream for nothingness?"

Rednaya tilted her head:

"Leoz won't become Arstala, then the cosmic won't be completely destroyed, and He himself can get a satisfying life—tell me, is there a problem with that?"