The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Chapter 932

Chapter 932

Davey leaned back in the chair in his office in Heins Territory. He was lost in thought, thinking about the words Emperor Sullivan had told him. He normally would’ve dismissed what he had said, but his words had intrigued him and kept lingering in his mind.

“Surtr’s Labyrinth? Never heard of such a thing...”

“Your Highness, shall I bring you a snack?” a beastfolk maid asked, her voice cheerful.

“Hmm, sure. Dealer’s choice,” Davey replied.

The maid grinned widely, pleased, and tried to get going. But he stopped her in her tracks and asked, “By the way, where’s Evangeline?”

“She took her sword to the training grounds. She seemed so happy that we couldn’t help but smile too.”

It seemed Evangeline was thrilled with her new sword. He understood her excitement, considering it was the first time she’d been given a sword.

Swords that were gifted were usually custom-made. The blade was forged predominantly from mithril, rather than being simply plated with it. On top of this, it had also been further enhanced with metal alloys renowned for working well with mana.

Such craftsmanship required exceptional skill; even Davey had only found the faintest hammer marks on it, showing how meticulously it had been forged.

Although it fell far short of mastering techniques that utilized the flow, that was only true for his approach. When compared to Surtr's method, it could still be considered quite decent.

Of course, that didn’t mean the craftsman who forged the mithril sword was on par with Surtr. Gaps were evident in the basics of handling, processing, and various supplementary knowledge regarding the blade.

“Still... it’ll do,” Davey murmured.

* * *

Swish! Thwack!

“Hyaaah!”

Davey watched from the sidelines on the training grounds as Evangeline practiced against a blackwood training dummy. Her eyes sparkled with focus, and he couldn’t help but smile. He was, of course, not smiling because he was cleverly avoiding work like a genius.

The blade energy surrounding her sword rippled like a mirage, a dazzling display of her swordsmanship. He was so proud of her; he could already envision her becoming the youngest Swordmaster on the continent.

Well, of course, her starting line was different from others’.

“D-Daddy!” she called out, spotting him.

“You’ve improved a lot,” Davey said in a proud tone.

Evangeline beamed at his praise, hugging her sword tightly. “It’s such a good sword! I’m going to take really good care of it!”

‘Well, as long as you’re happy, I’m happy too.’

Davey chuckled inwardly, knowing how cunning Sullivan had been to go after Evangeline instead of him. Sullivan clearly knew he wouldn’t be able to reject something that brought his daughter joy.

Of course, he could easily forge her a better blade. However, he couldn’t just craft something subpar for her. Even if he wanted to go all-out on it, the truly exceptional materials—like orichalcum, a metal dozens of times harder than gold-titanium alloy, or adamantium, which absorbed and released all impacts—weren’t something he could get right away.

The same applied to helixium, the divine metal used in the Divine Spear Longinus, which would take eight hundred years to refine.

“There’s no way I can get my hands on things like that anytime soon,” Davey muttered, shaking his head.

"Want me to help you practice a bit?"

“Huh? Uh... um...” Evangeline hesitated.

"You know, slacking off isn’t what a hero would do," Davey added.

“Ugh... Daddy, you’re too scary when you train me!” she pouted.

He had always maintained a strict approach when it came to training—Evangeline dreaded sparring sessions with him. As she looked at him bitterly, Davey chuckled and grabbed a nearby tree branch. He stepped into the training ground, eliciting a pout from her.

“Can you go easy on me?”

“No can do. You want to be a hero, right?” he replied with a grin.

Evangeline made a tearful face in response.

“Now, now, get into position.”

She sighed, but eventually lowered her stance and pointed her sword at him.

Though she wielded a real sword while Davey only had a branch, neither of them found this odd.

“Haaah!”

Boom!

Evangeline unleashed a surge of energy, her entire body radiating a bluish aura that burst outward. Without hesitation, she lunged forward like a streak of light.

Clang!!

“Your footing’s too shallow.”

Whack!!

He quickly deflected her attack and lightly kicked her leg, disrupting her balance.

“Ugh! I’m not done yet!” she shouted, springing back out of his range and immediately resuming her attack.

Her improvement was evident. He could tell that she had built on her recent experience of fighting monsters. However, she still had a long way to go.

“Ah!”

Davey parried her sword, deflecting it just enough to throw her balance off again. As she instinctively pulled back to guard, he countered casually with his branch.

“You shouldn’t pull back there! Do you think this is a turn-based game? Why give your opponent a chance to recover?!” he scolded.

Clang!

“Ahhh!” she cried out as she stumbled back, panting heavily.

She had pushed herself past her limits, unable to manage her stamina properly.

“No matter how weak your opponent is, if you can’t manage your stamina, you might end up losing to them. Don’t forget that.”

“Okay!” Evangeline replied, steadying herself and lifting her sword again.

She continued to attack, even fiercer than before. The air around her hissed as she relentlessly attacked, alternating the Longsword of the Sword Saint and the Demonic Sword of Dokgo Jun. She seamlessly transitioned between the two, keeping him in check while exploiting openings.

With her skills, she could easily overwhelm most Experts.

However...

Evangeline, thinking her attacks were effective, quickly spiraled out of control with aggression. Believing victory was on her side, she charged recklessly, her blade energy growing increasingly ferocious. She seemed to move by instinct, hungrily devouring the surrounding mana.

‘This isn’t good.’

Realizing the situation was about to escalate further, Davey twirled the branch in his hand and readjusted his grip. Instead of waiting for Evangeline to make her next move, he met her head-on.

“Well, then the sword must’ve been the problem. Just make her some better sword and move on.”

Surtr waved dismissively and turned to leave.

Davey sighed, having known convincing Surtr to part with his riches was never going to be easy. Acquiring enough helixium to forge the divine spear Longinus had already been a monumental challenge—now that he was asking for more, it was no surprise that Surtr wouldn’t agree so readily.

He felt bitter and slightly ashamed that he had to put off crafting a weapon that matched Evangeline’s strength. But there was no helping it.

As Davey was about to leave, he paused. Something else had come to mind.

“Oh, right. Surtr.”

“What now? Do you know how busy I am because of a certain someone? Get lost already.”

“There’s been a report about your labyrinth being discovered around here.”

This was the very matter Emperor Sullivan had bribed Davey to look into—the labyrinth that belonged to Surtr.

“They asked for my help getting inside. I was thinking about checking it out,” Davey continued.

Surtr froze, then darted over to the map Davey had pulled out, glaring at it as if he was about to burn a hole through it with his gaze.

“There’s... no way! T-There’s no labyrinth of mine in that area!” he stammered, backing away nervously.

“Your voice is shaking,” Davey pointed out.

“W-What are you talking about? I know nothing. Nothing!”

“So I can go and open it, then?”

“W-What?! Are you insane? Entering some underground dungeon that might be dangerous? Are you out of your mind?!”

Davey sensed something strange. He felt that Surtr seemed to know quite a bit about it, and that the way he was trying to stop him only made it more suspicious.

Surely, Surtr knew there was nothing within Tionis that could possibly harm Davey. And yet, he was trying to block him with such an absurd excuse.

He couldn’t help but give a sly smile.

“Who’s going to hurt me? I hear it’s a labyrinth built by a blacksmith. I have a feeling I might find some rare materials there.”

“W-Wait! You can’t! You absolutely can’t go in there!”

“Why are you acting like this? Did you leave something in there you don’t want anyone to see?”

“...”

“Wait, what?”

Surtr flinched.

“Really? There’s something like that inside it?”

“W-What are you talking about? I won’t listen to such nonsense!”

His voice was defiant, and Davey turned away without hesitation.

As if Surtr sensed unease from Davey's actions, he shifted from his previously domineering demeanor. He suddenly threw himself at Davey's feet, clinging to his leg and wailing at the top of his lungs.

“You! Promise me! Swear you won’t go in there! Listen to your teacher!”

“You told me that we’re equals as blacksmiths now.”

“I take it back! Forget I said that! Just be my student again, and I’ll teach you everything I know! How about it? Just promise me already!”

“A promise, huh...”

Davey glanced back at him, smirking, and raised one hand. He then confidently extended his middle finger.

“Not a chance, old man.”

“Aaahhh! Davey! Come back! I was wrong! Five years! I’ll figure out how to get you helixium within five years! I swear!”

‘Five years? Considering how short a time it takes to process helixium, even five days is long, you old man.’

Davey leapt through space despite the desperate cries. It felt like he could hear the man’s anguished screams across dimensions.

He hadn’t expected Surtr to react with such desperation. Perhaps flipping him off had been a bit much for someone who had once been his teacher... A pang of guilt flickered for a moment, but it quickly went away.

He knew Surtr couldn’t chase him or stop him. That frantic expression remained in his mind.

‘Oh boy... What should I do?’

He thought while chuckling to himself.

‘This is just too much fun.’

“Hehehe... Hahaha! I’ll definitely open that labyrinth and go inside.”

What started as an effort to craft a weapon for Evangeline had turned into something far more entertaining. Still, Davey hadn’t forgotten about her—he figured he could pick up some rare materials from the labyrinth.

As Davey completely left the Saint Sanctuary, his curiosity about the labyrinth grew. But before heading there, he made a stop at the Imperial Palace of the Pallan Empire to coordinate with Emperor Sullivan.

What greeted him, however, was utter chaos. A short, stocky dwarf had Sullivan by the collar, shouting angrily at him.

“You call that an explanation?! Do you even understand what that sword was? You handed it over to some human brat?!”

“Please, calm down.”

“Calm down? Calm down?! That was the only sword capable of reaching Surtr, the Thousand-day Blacksmith! And you gave it away?! Fine, let me just choke you to death and drag myself to get executed!”

The situation here was also a mess.

“What’s going on here?” Davey asked.

“Ah... Prince Davey.”

“Wait, why’s he here?”

The dwarf shifted his attention to Davey immediately. Dropping the Emperor, he stomped over and glared up at him.

“Prince, I’m sorry, but I’m going to need that sword back. The one that this idiot Emperor gave you.”

“Sword? Oh, you mean that mithril blade? Are you the one who forged it?”

“Yes! At least someone around here has a good eye!”

“Sorry to break it to you, but it shattered.”

The dwarf froze, his expression twisting into one of disbelief.

‘There’s something far more entertaining waiting for the two of us. That cheap ass sword is irrelevant now.’