The two locked eyes, Herta staring at him with an unwavering, laser-focused gaze.
"Whatever I say it is — can it be that?" she asked.
Facing her stare head-on, Leon didn't flinch or look away. His gaze met hers dead center, steady and unhurried.
"Of course." The corner of Herta's lips curved upward. "Be my lover, and never leave me again?"
Leon tested the waters with his reply.
[Quest Progress: 19/24]
"Oh my — did the sun just rise from the west?"
Herta didn't refuse. She simply settled back into her chair.
"To think someone like you would actually say sweet nothings to make a girl happy."
She folded her arms and watched him with an air of entertained curiosity.
"It was nothing," Leon said.
"That's it? Just like that?"
"What do you mean?"
Leon didn't follow.
"What do you mean 'just like that' — do you actually want to hear me say I like you too?"
"Who said anything about that?"
Not that Herta didn't want to hear it, of course. She very much did.
By any measure, getting someone as proud as Leon to kneel at her feet — there was something enormously satisfying about that, no matter how you looked at it.
"Don't tell me you went through all this elaborate effort just to meet with me for a few lines of sweet talk."
"Tell me something nobody else knows."
And Leon's answer? That was exactly it.
"...What exactly do you think I should be saying right now?"
Herta let out a small sigh. She was long used to it by now — the man before her was simply that kind of free-spirited existence.
He did whatever he wanted. Simple as that.
"Just say whatever's on your mind. I don't mind."
"I'm not the only one you've called in today, am I?"
This wasn't even a matter of feminine intuition — it was simply obvious.
You had to understand how long Herta had waited for him to finally show up.
Leon was the kind of person who got things done efficiently. That he had come to find her this late in the day meant he'd clearly been busy with other things first. And from the nature of this sudden, out-of-nowhere confession, it wasn't hard to piece together what exactly he'd been busy with.
"Yes," he nodded.
"Tell me — what number am I?"
Herta looked like she cared quite a bit about the answer to this question.
How many others he'd called in didn't really matter to her — he had plenty of women in his life, that much had been clear for a long time. What mattered was her own ranking.
"Nineteenth."
Leon glanced at the quest progress counter and told her straight, without trying to hide it.
"I'm what number?!"
The moment the number nineteen left his mouth, Herta slammed both palms on the table and shot to her feet, eyes wide.
She knew he had many women in his life — but she hadn't expected him to actually have the audacity to rope in this many.
Nineteen. You're telling me you're a poet now, Leon?!
"...Phew."
Herta caught herself, realizing her reaction had been a little too intense, and took a breath to bring her emotions back down to a manageable level.
"Is there anyone after me?"
She steadied herself and fixed him with a long, searching look as she asked.
First and last — both held a certain special significance.
If she were the last, Herta could live with that. But being buried somewhere in the middle? Then she'd genuinely have to find some new and creative way to love Leon.
"Five more."
Leon gave a straightforward nod. Honest as always.
"How many?!"
The number of people who could leave a genius like Herta genuinely stunned was vanishingly small. Leon was one of the rare few.
Nineteenth herself, and five more on top of that?
Five!
"Are you trying to cosplay as a twenty-four-winged angel?"
Twenty-four, Leon. You're genuinely unbeatable.
"You wouldn't understand."
Twenty-four carries a very special meaning for us on the Astral Express — a tribute to the legendary grandmaster's final dance!
Herta drew a deep breath and asked in a low, deliberate voice:
"Tell me — is Ruan Mei on the list?"
She knew she had no real power over Leon's decisions. Once he made up his mind, nothing changed. So she settled for the next best thing — using the rankings of people she knew to chase down whatever scrap of comparative satisfaction she could manage.
"She is."
"What number is she?"
"Eighteenth."
"Leon. You had better have deliberately placed me at nineteenth for a very specific reason."
The moment she heard Ruan Mei was eighteenth, Herta couldn't hold herself back. She reached out and grabbed him by the collar, bringing her face inches from his, and enunciated every single word with pointed precision.
"If I'm simply nineteenth by coincidence — with no ulterior motive behind it — then you had better have a damn good explanation for why I'm not first. And your answer had better convince me."
Herta let out a low, humorless chuckle and said nothing further.
But the unspoken message hanging in the air was crystal clear: You know what I'm capable of.
TL;DR: Figure it out yourself.
"Don't get worked up."
You couldn't just look at the surface of this.
"Strictly speaking, you're actually the third."
Herta stared at him. Hard. For a long moment.
"I'm telling the truth — don't blame me. The room assignments were random. I had no idea where you were, so I had to go door by door, one at a time."
"I didn't put you at nineteen on purpose. You just happened to be in room nineteen."
Herta stared at him for another long beat. Then, slowly, she released her grip on his collar.
As if she'd decided to accept his explanation.
"You know I've never once said a single bad thing about the great and magnificent Lady Herta."
Never mind that Leon had a yellow card on HertaTV, and that by any objective measure, he was the single most prolific offender when it came to insulting roadside Herta puppets — he was still, fundamentally, a good boy who was deeply loyal to Lady Herta herself.
"You had better not have."
Believe that if you could.
"I like you."
One denial of any wrongdoing — one 'I like you' the moment she pushes. Classic.
"I'm the kind of person who, once I've set my sights on something, doesn't easily change course."
Herta let out a quiet hmph.
"That just makes this whole exercise feel rather redundant, doesn't it."
Did Leon really need to confess?
Obviously not.
The nature of their relationship had already been settled — back during the Swarm Disaster, if you wanted to be precise.
"Hearing you say that, I'm relieved."
Relieved to move on to the next room, that is.
"Alright — see you later."
Leon rose from his chair, turned, and took a step toward the exit.
"Though fair warning — that's purely instinct talking. I have no idea where exactly 'later' is going to be."
Back still turned to her, Leon raised a hand in a casual wave as he stepped out of Room Nineteen.
——
Room Twenty.
Also 「Herta」.
"Ciallo~(∠·ω<)☆"
Leon greeted her with that as he walked through the door.
「Herta」simply looked at him. Unmoved. Completely stone-faced.
"No reaction whatsoever, huh."
Leon didn't particularly mind. He crossed the room and took the seat across from her.
"What reaction do you think you deserve?"
"Nobody understands my sense of humor." ...Forget it. I'm done being abstract.
Leon sighed internally, then took a moment to think.
"Getting bored in here?"
He cast about for a topic and settled on that as his opener.
「Herta」gave him a sidelong glance. "You don't actually think I'm the type with a rich and thriving social life, do you?"
"Fair point."
"'Bored' isn't quite the right word. Honestly, tearing apart my own immature past self is surprisingly entertaining."
She meant it, too.
"If you're asking whether I want to go back — all I can tell you is this: even if you scoured the entire universe, the number of people I'd agree to see a second time is exactly three hundred and forty-five."
"Isn't the reason for that simply that you've only chosen to see three hundred and forty-five people?"
It wasn't as though the others didn't want to see her.
"So you should consider yourself fortunate."
「Herta」let out a quiet scoff. "Being at my beck and call is an immense honor, I assure you."
"In any case — I've always kept my head buried in my own research and rarely deign to associate with others, so I have no particular relationships that need maintaining."
"Here or there — it genuinely makes very little difference to me."
「Herta」looked at him steadily.
"I'm not the type to beat around the bush either. When I want to leave, I'll simply tell you directly."
Hearing that, Leon relaxed.
"Tell me — if I were to confess to you, would you say yes?"
"What do you think?"
"I think you would. Because it's me, and I can make that happen."
As ever, his answer was brimming with absolute, unabashed self-confidence.
"As it happens — I also think your life shouldn't have any failures on its record as unsightly blemishes."
「Herta」smiled. The answer was self-evident.
[Quest Progress: 20/24]
"I know exactly what you mean, sister."
Leon met her gaze with a matching smile.
"So — what number am I?"
「Herta」asked with an air of idle curiosity, fully aware that if he was confessing, she couldn't possibly be the only one.
"Twenty."
"Not a bad number, all things considered."
Both Hertas, and look at the difference in attitude. One of them is clearly trying to act like the main pick, the faker.
Leon kept that thought firmly inside his head.
"Someone else is still waiting for you, aren't they?"
「Herta」could tell by the way he was moving that he was about to take his leave.
Quite the collection you've gathered, I must say.
"Yes."
Leon gave a small nod, then stood up without hesitation.
"Then I'll take my leave first."
With those words said, he made his exit with the easy familiarity of a man who had done this many times before.
——
Room Twenty-One.
This one — his first love, Evernight.
"Any questions?"
Leon took a seat at the round table in the center of the room. Standard blind-date protocol at this point.
"None."
Evernight had her slender right leg crossed over her left beneath the table, her left elbow propped against the surface, her pale palm cradling her chin. Those dim, lightless eyes of hers were fixed on him without expression.
His arrival hadn't stirred so much as a ripple in her.
If anything, she carried the air of someone who had already seen this coming.
"Oh? You already knew what I was here to do?"
Someone talked. Someone leaked the intel, and I will find them.
"I didn't know. But I could guess."
Evernight straightened up, uncrossing her legs and letting her right foot settle back onto the floor.
Her posture composed itself naturally.
"Is that so?"
Leon smiled faintly.
"I figured it was about time to add one final epilogue to this feeling of mine."
He was a straightforward person.
If he liked someone, he liked them. He'd never made any particular effort to conceal it.
Evernight was the first person he had ever liked with his head, his heart, and his soul all aligned as one — and he had never once tried to hide that.
The only reason he hadn't said anything before was that his strength back then hadn't been enough to offer her a genuine, unshakeable sense of security.
But when had Leon ever been the type to accept defeat in something like this?
From that moment on, he had decided: he would save this confession for the day he had truly crushed every enemy under heaven beneath his feet.
That day was now.
"Evernight — I like you."
"Have you thought this through?"
Even now, Evernight's expression didn't shift dramatically. She was calm.
She had always known the depth of Leon's feelings toward her — how could she not have noticed? She had simply been pretending not to.
Even now, she still felt, deep down, that she wasn't worthy of his love.
The one who deserved to be loved by him was March 7th — the real one. Not herself, who was nothing more than an obsession given form.
"Once words leave your lips, there's no taking them back."
She was telling him to be sure before he spoke.
"In your experience — have I ever done a single thing I came to regret?"
Leon saw no reason for that kind of hesitation.
Evernight closed her eyes. She drew a slow, deep breath, then opened them again.
"What about March?"
That was the question she cared about most.
The other women — Evernight wasn't concerned with them. But March 7th's heart was the one thing she hoped, above all else, that Leon would not betray.
If he were to be involved with only her, while his relationship with March remained frozen at that one single step — Evernight knew that guilt would eat at her. What kind of situation was it, for a stand-in to steal the original's home?
"I'm going to find her next and tell her everything myself," Leon said, giving a quiet, steady nod of reassurance. "I will be her one and only destination — no one else's."
That put Evernight's heart at ease.
"Be gentle with her."
She gave the instruction — and then, right as the words left her mouth, she paused:
"...If you do have any rougher ideas — you can take those out on me instead."
Evernight's voice was soft, but her tone was entirely sincere.
As though she had decided this was simply her duty.
How to put this — the implication of what she'd just said landed like: If Leon ever had any violent impulses, Evernight was kindly requesting he direct them her way rather than at March 7th, and she would take it all quietly and without complaint, on her behalf.
...That strong?!
Oh my God.
Are you sure you're alright up there, sister?
Leon was, for a moment, completely at a loss for what to say. Was he supposed to respond with I can't promise to be gentle tonight?
But I think this is something sacred!
[Quest Progress: 21/24]
"Go find her. Don't keep her waiting."
The more Evernight spoke, the more she felt herself shifting uncomfortably in her seat. Every moment of growing intimacy between the two of them, with March 7th still not yet properly spoken to — the weight of it pressed a little heavier on her conscience.
"...Alright."
This was the first time Leon had ever been proactively kicked out by someone.
....
——
Room Twenty-Two.
Evernight had told him to go find her — but March 7th would most likely be the grand finale, slot twenty-four.
This room, then, had to be either Demiurge or Cyrene.
Creak——
The moment he stepped inside, the girl who had been sprawled sideways across the table — head resting on one cheek, utterly bored out of her mind, idly tracing slow circles on the tabletop with one slender fingertip — snapped her head up the instant she heard the door.
"It's my partner!" she cried out in delighted surprise.
"Sorry for the wait," Leon said with a small nod of acknowledgment.
He stepped forward, taking his seat across from her — the twenty-second time in a single day he had sat down across from a woman.
"Wah — partner!"
The moment Leon sat down, Demiurge let out a small sound and immediately leaned forward, throwing both arms around his neck, their upper bodies pressed close together. Like someone who had finally found their anchor, she poured out everything in one breathless rush:
"Peach and everyone else suddenly all vanished, and I got this weird invitation out of nowhere that I couldn't dismiss no matter what I did, and when I came back to my senses I was just — here — you don't think everyone's in trouble, do you?"
Leon patted her on the back gently, his manner coaxing — the way you'd soothe a child.
Demiurge had the heart of a born child — similar to what March 7th had been at the very beginning, yet different in her own way.
March 7th had been a blank page. Demiurge was also a blank page.
But as the story was written on March 7th's pages, she gradually grew her own personality — her own colors.
Demiurge, on the other hand, had been rendered and re-rendered by Cyrene across thirty million lifetimes, and still that childlike heart remained. It had to be something purely and uniquely her own — a core innocence that simply could not be painted over.
"This place is something I created, and that invitation you couldn't close was sent by me. Why else do you think I'm so calm right now?"
If anyone had actually dared to lay a hand on the Astral Express — Leon guaranteed he'd have sent every last one of them flying before he'd even gotten through the door.
"You made this place?" Demiurge pulled back, surprised.
"Yeah, it was me."
As he said it, Leon eased her gently back by the shoulders, creating enough distance that she was facing him directly.
"Right — I've been meaning to return this to you."
He withdrew his hands, then reached his right hand toward his left pinky finger.
"The ring. Returning what's yours."
He slipped the ring off and held it out to her.
"The reason I sent you that invitation is because there's something I wanted to say to you — just you, alone."
Demiurge didn't take it from his hand. Instead, she extended her left hand toward him.
She fixed him with a look that brooked no argument, its meaning unmistakable without a single word.
Leon understood.
He reached out, cradling her extended left hand gently in his palm.
With careful, deliberate movements — he slid the ring onto her ring finger himself.
"Demiurge — I like you."
And in that same quiet moment, Leon slipped in his confession.
"I love my partner most of all, more than anything!"
Demiurge blinked.
She had no idea what had come over Leon so suddenly — but she answered him all the same.
[Quest Progress: 22/24]
____
👻🔥Walnut-chan in "P" for more!🔥👻
🔥 New history: Group chat of the Dead
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
👻 P - Walnut-chan