The Max Level Hero Has Returned!-Chapter 990

Perserque made a puzzled face.

“What’s it for?”

“You know how cell towers work when you make a call on Earth?”

“Uh-huh.”

The way she innocently nodded was kind of adorable, and his mischievous side started kicking in.

But before he could say anything, Perserque, always quick on the uptake, pinched his cheek hard as a warning.

“Don’t you start with any nonsense.”

“Tsk.”

‘That’s the downside of dealing with sharp people.’

“The humans of this continent are blessed with mana. While Tionis has a higher overall mana capacity, people here have better mana affinity.”

“Hm?”

“But, you know, some people take things for granted when they shouldn’t.”

At that, Perserque made a blank expression.

“Therefore, Odin decided it’s time to take back the blessings they were given at birth.”

She tilted her head as she gazed at the magic circle.

“If you do that, wouldn’t the gap between people just get worse? A select few would end up monopolizing everything.”

“Yeah, I was kidding.”

“...”

As soon as Davey said that, Perserque took a step back.

Then, without hesitation, she lightly stepped toward Odin, who was completely focused on the magic circle.

“Odin, Davey is spouting nonsense. What should we do?”

“Is that anything new? Move aside.”

Sounding completely indifferent, Odin stood up and dusted off her skirt. Then, without a word, she glanced at Davey and made a small jump.

Fwooosh!

Her simple jump came with a sheer force of wind that made Davey instinctively dodge.

Boom!!

A devastating strike, incomparable even to the missile dropkick Rinne used, ripped through the spot where he had just been standing.

“Are you insane, woman?!”

“You’re the insane one. Who told you it was a good idea to mess with your beloved wife?”

With a calm expression, she lifted her staff and walked toward him.

Then, without mercy, she started giving him a beatdown.

“You just need a good beating sometimes, you bastard!”

Whack! Whack! Whack!

“Urgh! Ack!”

As Davey groaned and struggled on the ground, she stood on top of him and continued swinging her staff.

It wasn’t until Perserque, who had been watching with an amused but exasperated expression, finally intervened that she set her staff down.

Davey remembered the saying that sassy in-laws could be more annoying than the strictest mother-in-law. He felt that sentiment to be very relevant for him at the moment.

When Davey saw Odin sticking out her tongue playfully, he knew she had purposely seized the perfect opportunity to strike.

As he saw her shaking her head slightly while wearing a mischievous expression, something snapped inside him.

“Tentacles... It’s time to bring out the tentacles again.”

“Oh, you still haven’t learned your lesson?”

Darkness filled his vision, and time blurred.

By the time he regained consciousness, Odin had already completed the foundation of the large-scale magic circle.

Strangely, all of his fatigue had completely vanished.

* * *

“How long will this last?”

“Unless someone beyond the Transcendence stage of the 9th Circle comes along and destroys it, it should hold semi-permanently.”

Surprisingly, it wasn’t Odin who answered, but Perserque.

With Odin away, Perserque had taken her place, letting Davey rest his head on her lap while she chuckled.

“And where’s Odin?”

“Who knows? Probably stopped by somewhere for a bit.”

“Did you hear what this is for?”

“Yeah, I heard everything.”

She grinned playfully and pinched his cheek lightly.

Atrellia was dense with mana, and its energy was highly active, which also happened to be the reason why so many humans here could naturally wield magic.

But for some reason, only seventy percent of the population could cast magic.

The truth was, the commonly held idea that seventy percent of its population were mages—while the other thirty percent were not—was wrong.

In reality, ten percent had an overabundance of mana while thirty percent suffered from mana depletion. The remaining sixty percent were within a normal range.

“Hm?”

“To put it simply, the mana in this land is unevenly distributed. The mana that should’ve been evenly spread across all humans ended up accumulating in a select few, completely disregarding talent or potential.”

“Oh?” Davey remarked with surprise.

“In most places, cases like that are exceptionally rare. But here, the proportion is unnaturally high at ten percent.”

In short, if the imbalance spread across the world was corrected, changes wouldn’t happen overnight. But within a decade, the cumulative effects would be undeniable.

“So, in other words... this is a complete reformation of the entire continent.”

“If it were me, I wouldn’t be able to pull it off. But Odin? She definitely can.”

She was the kind of mage who could not only think of such a thing, but also follow through and succeed in it.

“You trust her a lot.”

“Despite her nasty temper, there’s no one who can rival her when it comes to magic.”

Unlike Rho Aias, who excelled in a different domain, Odin was an undisputed master in her field.

The reason she had been able to land truly dangerous attacks on Davey, unlike the other heroes, was precisely due to her unparalleled expertise.

“I see. You keep saying you’re not fond of her, but it’s clear as day how much you care.”

“Don’t talk nonsense.”

“And in addition to that magic circle, what she just did makes a lot more sense now, too.”

Her words made Davey pause.

“What?”

“Hm?”

“What did... Odin do?”

At his question, Perserque gave him a teasing smile.

“Who knows? I certainly have no idea.”

“Hey! Perserque!”

Davey shot up and lunged at her, but she simply clasped her hands behind her back and dodged him, prancing just out of reach.

“Tsk, tsk. It’s bad manners to pry into other people’s business.”

“I have the right to know! Get over here, this instant!”

He needed to know what Odin had done to him while he was unconscious. But Perserque refused to say a single word, as if she had a lock on her lips.

“Gotcha!”

Finally, after a long chase, Davey tackled her to the ground, pinning her down.

“Alright. Be a good girl and spill it.”

“Davey.”

With an eerily smile, she lifted a hand and pointed somewhere.

“I know we’re married, but there are boundaries, you know.”

Her words made him furrow his brows.

“There’s nothing weird about this.”

“Move.”

Whack!

She shoved his face aside and casually got up.

“Ahaha! I got away!” she said with a smirk.

She then shot off again, leaving Davey standing there, staring blankly at her retreating figure.

“That little—”

* * *

“Your Majesty... Are you truly certain about this?”

The man speaking was Vark, a 7th Circle mage, the most senior of the Enforcers, and a long-time friend and loyal subject of the King. His gaze was filled with concern as he looked at his liege.

“You’ve arrived, Vark,” the King frowned as he reviewed the terms of negotiation sent by the resistance. “A complete end to the war is indeed unavoidable... At least for now.”

“But—”

“Vark, regardless of ideals, there are things that are within human reach, and things that are not.”

“The lower command structure is still skeptical about this sudden peace negotiation.”

“And the Enforcers?”

“They are unanimously in favor of temporarily halting the war. It appears the resistance leaders hold a similar stance.”

The King couldn’t help but think how meticulously the man called Davey had acted.

Rather than simply negotiating between the two primary leaders, he had gathered the true powers behind both factions in one place. Then, through a one-sided demonstration of overwhelming strength, he had silenced any potential opposition before it could even arise.

“Phew. This is getting complicated. Has there been any word from Loki Devan yet?”

“No. Neither he nor the mages we sent to support him have responded.”

The King had supported Loki because he had spoken of using Odin’s power—her Dark Eye—to erase inequality from their continent once and for all.

However, at some point, he had lost all communication with him.

“Not that he was ever someone to be fully trusted to begin with... But I’m rambling. Despite the deep hatred we have toward each other, if we’ve managed to stop the war, it’s better to think about what comes next.”

“The resistance commander Illenia is advocating for complete equality. While that differs from our ideology...”

“We’ll just have to adjust accordingly.”

The King let out a deep sigh.

The resistance wanted absolute equality, pushing for a democracy where leaders could be kept in check through public pressure.

Meanwhile, the King believed such a system would only invite those seeking to exploit the remaining corrupt practices, inevitably leading back to the same broken legislative system that had caused the whole mess in the first place.

Their end goal may seem the same, but their methods and thinking were completely different.

At first, accepting their ideology had been out of the question.

It had started when the resistance argued that a monarchy would lead to deeper corruption than the electoral system and therefore had to be abolished.

The royalists, on the other hand, saw replacing one broken electoral system with another as utter nonsense.

And then—almost as if someone had been waiting for the perfect moment—news broke that the King’s young daughter had been brutally murdered by the resistance.

War had erupted in an instant.

However, there had always been something suspicious about the circumstances surrounding her death.

At the time, blinded by grief and fury, the King hadn’t cared about the truth. But as negotiations progressed, discrepancies emerged between Illenia’s version of the truth and Loki’s version of the truth.

As time passed, more and more inconsistencies kept surfacing.

And there was more on top of that.

“I’ve started having doubts, Vark.”

“Your Majesty?”

“When I see the people simply rejoicing over the end of war, I wonder... if the ideal we fought for was ever truly right.”

“I believe the resistance is likely having similar thoughts.”

“Set another date for negotiations.”

At that moment, a mage burst into the chamber, panting heavily as he delivered a shocking report.

Across the continent, more than thirty mysterious towers had suddenly appeared overnight.

Hearing that, both the King and Vark instinctively thought of the one person capable of pulling off something so insane in a single day.

* * *

“Why the long face?”

“They say I’m magic-incompatible.”

In Arthem, a neutral city untouched by both the royal army and the resistance, a young girl sat on a park bench, looking utterly dejected.

She was the daughter of a mage affiliated with the Mage Guild.

“Magic-incompatible?”

“Yes. You don’t know what that means?”

“Nope.”

“Some people are born able to use magic, and some... aren’t.”

She bit her lip.

“I’m one of the ones who can’t.”

Individuals were tested for magic aptitude throughout their lives. First at birth, then ages three, five, ten, and finally fifteen.

But at age ten, she was deemed to be incompatible.

She was part of the thirty percent of the continent’s population labeled as such.

“I wanted to use magic... I wanted to be as great as my father!”

She mumbled, her voice trembling.

For those labeled magic-incompatible, no amount of effort would allow them to accumulate mana. It wasn’t a lack of talent—it was as if mana itself rejected them.

Hearing her words, Davey asked, “Do you truly want to use magic?”

“Yes... but they say my body will never be able to gather mana.”

Her eyes welled up as she kept on mumbling.

In response, Davey extended his hand toward her.

“Here. Try touching this.”

“What is it...?”

“A lamp that grants wishes.”

She looked at the ordinary-looking lamp in confusion, turning it over in her hands before rubbing its side.

Puff!

“Now, make a wish.”

“Pfft. I think you’re playing with me!”

But she quickly frowned again, as if she remembered her irreparable incompatibility.

“If I could make a wish, I definitely wish I could use magic. I want to become a mage—it’s been my dream since I was little.”

She lifted a finger.

“Like this—Fire!! And then flames should—huh?”

Her eyes widened in shock.

She couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

A tiny flame was dancing on her fingertip.

For someone diagnosed as magic-incompatible, this shouldn’t have happened.

“W-What? How...?”

“Looks like the lamp granted your wish.”

Davey stood up and gently patted her head.

“Congratulations.”

“I-I...?”

She stammered, unable to process what had just happened.

Leaving her frozen in astonishment, Davey walked away.

Across the continent, Odin’s magic circle had begun spreading mana evenly using the thirty massive towers that Davey had forcibly built and erected using Earth Spirits.

Of course, redistributing mana evenly across an entire continent wasn’t as simple as it sounded.

To make it possible, Odin had done something truly unexpected.

She had used her own Dark Eye to intertwine the power of the half-working Ouroboros Ritual with the magic circle.

The very force that had once trapped her had now scattered. The restraints that had bound her here had been lifted.

The weakened continent could no longer hold her. Using this as her final anchor point, Odin left Atrellia and returned to the Saint Sanctuary.

As word spread that the war was coming to an end, people from both factions and neutral cities alike rejoiced.

At first, both Commander Illenia and the King had been hesitant.

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But as they observed the people’s unfiltered joy, something in their hearts had shifted—within days, they had thrown themselves into the peace negotiations with newfound determination.

The once-unbalanced flow of mana was effectively equalized. That meant that, from then on, anyone with enough effort and talent had a fair chance of becoming a mage.

Of course, magic itself would still remain a skill that heavily favored the naturally gifted. Only a select few would ever reach the heights of a high-level mage.

“Woooow!!” squealed the little girl as she kept on flickering flames on her fingertips.

"Hey, mister!!"

"Hm?"

"Are you a genie?"

Davey smiled in response.

"A genie, huh..."

And answered calmly.

"Sure, let's go with that."

She tilted her head, puzzled.

Then, a powerful gust of wind blew through the park. She shut her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again, Davey was gone.

[So it’s over? In the end, I never even got a chance to do anything...]

"Yeah, who told you to stray away? Wasn’t me.”

[Ugh...]

Gold dragon Hovana grumbled.

"Will this hold?"

"For now, there’s nothing more to do here. Only time will tell."

Though Odin had left, it was impossible not to feel a bit responsible for what was left behind.

Just a little.

Just enough to offer some aftercare.

Perched on Davey’s shoulder, Perserque tilted her head.

"If people find out you're gone, war could break out again. Loki Devan's connections haven’t been entirely erased, either."

There were lunatics in every land. That was why he had used the two leaders.

"Yeah. If neither the Commander nor the King feels anything after seeing the people rejoice... then they’ll start another war."

Or, at the very least, a conflict.

But if they truly understood the meaning and significance behind the people's relief, he was sure that the war would end.

"So what was Loki Devan, really?"

In truth, the war between the royalists and the resistance had been orchestrated by Loki and his manipulation.

Loki Devan.

Odin told Davey about him later on, explaining that he was a mage from the abandoned fortress in Gorgon Plains, coincidentally where the two factions had negotiated. He had participated in an experiment about thirty years ago.

That experiment had caused a catastrophe—one that led to the abandonment of the fortress. But at the time, he had no idea.

Caught in the blast, he had been buried underground for decades, only waking up a few years ago.

That was when he encountered Odin by chance.

For some reason, she had taken an interest in him, believing he might be one of her distant descendants. As a rare exception, she chose to help him and taught him many things.

The problem was, he turned out to be a one-of-a-kind lunatic.

Realizing that Odin would only stay in his world when the people of the continent suffered, he manipulated the factions with conflict, fueling the flames of war.

He had forcefully plunged the continent into despair.

In the end, Davey had taken care of him. Unfortunately, the two factions that had danced to his invisible strings were only now truly facing and understanding the consequences of the war.

[By the way, those towers... won’t they break?]

"They’re well-built. They won’t be easily destroyed."

Hovana eyed the massive stone towers with curiosity.

Each one stood three hundred meters tall, with thirty of them spread across the continent.

They ushered in the new era.

When Davey returned to the original magic circle, he spotted Odin—who he had presumed to have returned—raising the entire circle into the sky.

"You haven’t left yet?"

"Just a little longer..."

She wanted to witness—even if just for a moment—the land that had made her suffer. She wanted to feel the happiness she had not been able to feel before.

Her face wasn’t its usual expressionless mask.

At a glance, one might not notice.

But upon a closer look—

She had put on a small, quiet smile.