The Villain Is Destined to Die: But as the Creator, I know All Endings-Chapter 219: To Merlin Kingdom [5]

A few people, both men and women, were seen going in and out of Charm’s Love Castle.

When Leon entered, the first thing his eyes landed on was how occupied the place was. Most of the guests were men, each holding one or more women with them.

As the name suggested, this place was basically a love hotel, and one of the most badly reputed locations in Shinra. If someone were to see Leon here at this hour, his reputation would crumble into mud.

Good thing he had his appearance altered.

Even before leaving Eclipse, he had informed both Ethan and Cyan to alter their appearances as well. Leon had to convince Ethan to let him decide their meeting place before leaving for Merlin.

It wasn’t easy, but after Leon explained why... Ethan eventually agreed.

For one thing, Leon hadn’t told Myra about his absence from Eclipse for a week. She still didn’t know, and Leon made sure she wouldn’t until morning. Veronica would surely notice as well, but she would have a hard time guessing where he was heading.

Even though Veronica was aware that Evana City still existed, she lacked the actual location to reach the place.

She would need something similar to the prism Ethan possessed just to enter it. And as the original story went, she never got her hands on one.

’Well, her role in this arc was practically negligible,’ Leon thought. ’She’ll have other problems to deal with.’

Leon smirked.

He had put Eula in charge of handling this matter, instructing her to make sure Veronica remained busy with a ’certain’ incident.

At this stage, Eula would never reject Leon.

He had made sure of that.

Walking up to the reception desk, Leon passed over a slip of paper.

"I have a reservation under the name Den Cooper."

The receptionist, an elderly woman, eyed Leon from head to toe before checking the reservation.

After verifying it, she handed him the key.

Leon took it and headed upstairs.

His room was on the second floor.

Leon climbed the stairs, and the moment he stepped into the corridor, muffled voices spilled out from behind the doors on both sides.

"Aahh... haa... haa... slower..."

"Mmm... don’t stop..."

A sharp intake of breath followed by a shaky moan echoed through the hallway from all directions.

Leon didn’t react.

He kept his expression neutral, and his posture relaxed, as if this was no different from walking through a market street. His current persona didn’t flinch at things like this, and he made sure not even a hint of discomfort surfaced on his face.

Reaching his door, he inserted the key.

Click. Creak. Thud–!

The door shut behind him.

For a brief moment, the corridor went quiet. Leon thought that this room was at least soundproof.

Then...

"Mmm... right there..." came a soft, drawn-out voice from the next room over.

Leon exhaled through his nose.

"Haha..." he sighed quietly as he pulled his hood down.

His gaze swept across the room.

A large bed draped in white sheets dominated the center, scattered with pink petals. Several items rested on the bedside table, things Leon deliberately chose not to touch.

A sofa sat beside a low table near the window.

He walked over.

On the table rested a package sealed inside a black wooden box.

[To Den Cooper.]

His name was on the box.

"They’re fast," Leon muttered.

He slid the pin free and lifted the lid.

Inside lay two items.

Leon reached in and pulled out the first by its white hilt.

The Moonblade gleamed under the room’s light, its pale edge reflecting the crimson of his eyes. He inspected it briefly before slipping it into his dimensional pouch.

He had handed the Moonblade to the Twilight Order earlier, instructing them to deliver it directly here. Carrying it through the Red Market, even stored away, would have been unnecessarily risky.

His eyes then moved to the second item.

A grin spread across his face.

"...How long has it been since I last used one of these," Leon murmured.

He lifted it by the brass barrel.

It was a revolver.

The top half was crafted from polished brass, which was fitted with a six-round chamber. The grip was wood reinforced with leather, and it balanced perfectly in his hand. It had the classic western silhouette, but this was no ordinary firearm.

It fired mana-infused bullets, each one attuned to a single affinity use.

’Feels good,’ Leon thought.

He had asked Eula to arrange this specifically, calibrated to resonate with his ice mana frequency. She had passed it to Sumire along with the Moonblade to ensure proper tuning.

Leon extended his arm and placed his finger on the trigger.

Click.

He adjusted his stance slightly, peering down the aim through his glasses.

"Perfect."

Back in his old life as Haru, firearms had been a weekly practice for him. He liked playing with modern firearms in his past life.

He slid the revolver into the holster at his side and concealed it beneath his cloak.

"Huff... everything’s set on my end."

Leon checked the time.

"They should be here any minute now."

Knock. Knock.

"...Talk of the devil."

He waited for five seconds before stepping closer to the door.

After five more seconds passed, three light knocks came from the other side once again.

Click.

Leon opened the door without any delay this time and stepped aside.

Slam.

He turned to them after closing the door.

"You guys are on time," he said, leading them both inside the room.

Ethan and Cyan were both wearing hooded cloaks, and from what Leon could see, neither of them had altered their appearances.

Removing their hoods, they finally let out a sigh.

"Sigh... whose idea was this hotel again?" Cyan said, ruffling his hair as he stared straight into Leon’s red eyes.

Leon pointed at Ethan. "All his doing."

"Hey—!" Ethan shot back. "It was all your idea. Hey, Cyan, did you forget he was the one who told us to alter our appearances? Well, now you know why."

Cyan glared at Leon.

"If someone from my village finds out I was in a place like this, I’d be kicked out immediately."

"Oh, come on, you guys are overreacting," Leon waved his hand dismissively. "If they find out, they’ll think you’ve finally stepped into the world of adults. If anything, they’d be proud."

"You’re insane," Cyan clicked his tongue. "Anyways, as you said, I’ve rented us a carriage, and it’s parked right behind this indecent hotel."

Cyan turned to Ethan and took out a rolled paper from his cloak.

"I have also plotted the safest route leading to Merlin."

Ethan took the map and nodded.

"Thanks, that helps a lot."

He looked around the room and spread the map open on the table.

The map was neatly drawn, with a path traced in red leading to the capital of the Merlin Kingdom, Karnak City.

Ethan took out the prism and placed it above the map. The moment he did, the top of the prism opened, and a flat holographic map projected out, covering the paper map beneath it.

Using his fingers, he zoomed out and aligned the hologram precisely over the paper.

In an instant, the red line on the physical map was automatically captured by the hologram, carving a clean path toward their next destination.

"Done," he said. "It matches the prism."

Now that the authenticity of the route was confirmed, Cyan asked,

"By the way, where is Evana even situated? Is it in the Merlin Kingdom?"

"Nope," Leon replied.

He pointed at the map, and Ethan made space for him.

"Merlin is just our next stop." Leon zoomed in on the holographic map and pointed at Karnak City. "After we reach Karnak, we’ll dispatch the carriage. From here—"

He moved his finger toward the coastal region of the city.

"—we’ll be traveling by a passenger ship for the next three days."

Ethan nodded. He had already explained Leon most of the route earlier, but even so, Ethan was impressed by how easily he was operating the prism.

It took Ethan a whole week to even get to understand the prism.

Ethan sat down on the sofa and looked up at them.

"So we travel by land for two days, and by sea for the next three."

"Alright... that makes it five days to reach Evana," Cyan muttered to himself. It finally dawned on him that their destination was somewhere in the middle of the ocean.

"Is Evana City floating on the sea?" Cyan asked.

On the map, Evana looked like an island, completely surrounded by water.

"That’s what the map shows," Leon said, without bothering to tell them the real meaning. "We get off five kilometers before the point."

"...Huh?" Cyan blinked. "What do you mean, get off? We’re talking about getting off in the middle of the ocean."

"Yeah," Leon said casually. "We slip out of the ship when it passes through this region."

Leon pointed again at the map, he took a seat right next to Ethan. "If my calculations are correct, we’ll be jumping off around midnight."

"..."

Cyan wanted to say something, but stopped himself. Both Leon and Ethan had smiles on their faces.

In his eyes, both of them were insane.

They were discussing something as suicidal as stepping off a moving ship in the middle of the ocean, and that too doing it at night.

That was madness, no matter how he thought about it.

What if Evana didn’t exist at all? How would they return from the middle of nowhere?

Crazy. Both of them were crazy.

And yet, they were looking at the map with complete confidence, as if it were undeniably true.

Leon noticed his expression.

To ease Cyan’s worries, he spoke calmly.

"If you’re worried about Evana’s existence, don’t be. If it turns out to be nothing... which it won’t, we’ll still return safely."

"How?" Cyan asked.

Leon smirked. "Did you forget who my sister is?"

That single line made both Cyan’s and Ethan’s hair stand on end.

"...Right," Ethan muttered, wiping his forehead.

As Cyan finally relaxed, Ethan turned to Leon.

"Did you buy everything I asked for?"

Leon nodded and showed them their fake identities, medical supplies, healing potions, emergency food, weapons, and the dimensional house.

"Wow," Cyan’s eyes widened. "That must have cost you a fortune."

Leon brushed it off casually.

"Not really. It was cheaper than I expected."

"...Really now."

For the next thirty minutes, the three of them discussed their plan for leaving the city and going over their fake identities again.

Ethan and Cyan couldn’t alter their appearances, since the artifact required for that was far too expensive for them to afford.

They told Leon about this, and to their surprise, he had already prepared two pigmentation-altering magitech devices for them.

Ethan altered his hair to black and tanned his skin slightly.

Cyan, on the other hand, chose red hair and orange eyes to match his fierceness.

"These fake identities have your new names written on them," Leon said. "So before stepping out, I want you to properly adapt to them. Act, talk, eat—almost everything should be different from the real you."

Leon made it clear.

This mission was dangerous, and with Leon tagging along, it would become even more unpredictable.

Ethan and Cyan picked up their new identity papers and read the names written on them.

"Johnny Watson?" Ethan read aloud.

Cyan’s eyes twitched.

"Jimmy Moriarty? What the hell are these names?"

Both of them looked at Leon with expressions of disbelief.

Leon didn’t bother explaining. He simply said,

"Live with it."

.

.

[

A/N: All my exams and interviews are over. Thanks for your patience. The updates will be regular from this month. Hence, I will me also adding Daily goals. I have also reduced the price of last 2 Priv tires.

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