Hm.
Another day.
As he pressed down on Amy and Ella's heads once more, the two handmaidens understood and began the dull, repetitive training movements that seemed pointless in their eyes, continuing until their arms ached...
However, they still had not managed to grip the spear with the correct form.
Night wondered if perhaps he was being too demanding.
Maybe Amy and Ella were simply not suited for spearmanship at all.
Given their builds, perhaps smaller weapons, daggers or the like, would suit them better, favoring agility over strength.
Unfortunately, he had no weapons as small as daggers, nor any expertise in that area.
Well.
Watching Amy and Ella collapse into deep, exhausted sleep, Night felt that after these days of rest, his spirit and energy had fully recovered.
Now that he was calm, it was time to get back to real business.
He opened the transit space of the simulated universe once more, looking at the beauty in front of him.
Herta looked at the young man and said. "You finally showed up.
So, are you bringing that dull-witted dragon with you this time?"
Well...Night nodded. "I have already spoken with Helena about it.
I did not reveal the critical details but let her know that I can take her to different eras of myth to fight powerful opponents. She agreed immediately."
Herta was speechless.
"What an easy woman to deal with."
She didn't even ask Night why he possessed such an unbelievable ability.
After all, even the gods could not travel through time so freely, and yet Night could bring her to mythological worlds from different eras.
If anyone could go back and change history at will, the gods would have thrown the world into chaos long ago.
And yet in the eyes of that violent dragoness, all that apparently mattered was battle, and nothing but battle.
Herta didn't know what kind of expression she should show.
Anyway, she was speechless.
"So then, which world are you headed to this time? Exploring a new universe, or continuing the (Greek) Hellenic simulation?"
Night. "Hellas."
(Ok, so Greece is Hellas.) I'm not going deeper into it.)
It suited him well.
He had been training his legion these past days and kept feeling something was missing, and he had finally worked out what it was.
It was the systematic foundations of military training and the ability to command troops in actual battle.
Back in the Roman universe simulation, when he had crushed the Spanish rebels, it had mostly been Scipio directing the campaign while he simply led the charge and cut through everything in his path.
But once he was left to command an army entirely on his own, he realized how many blind spots he had.
Given his strength, he did not need to master everything.
Just a firm grasp of the essential fundamentals would be enough.
And for that, Hector could teach him.
Not to mention there was a war playing out right there, the grandest conflict in Hellenic history, where he could put what he learned into direct practice and see the results firsthand.
With his current strength and Helena at his side, Night already had a set of ideas and strategies forming in his mind for how to break the Trojan War open.
He wanted to put them to the test.
If it truly worked, even if it did not shift the great tides of history, altering even a small current of fate would be more than enough to make his name legendary.
And the rewards from the simulated universe settlement would undoubtedly be immense.
With that in mind, Night made his decision without hesitation and chose the Hellenic universe.
Exploring a new universe could wait.
That was entirely a matter of luck anyway, and it was far more practical to wait until he led his troops into Britain and the lands of the Danes and beyond in the real world and see whether entirely new primitive universes, something like the (Greek) Hellenic and Roman ones, might emerge from those mythologies.
To complete great deeds within one universe and let that ripple through all universes tied to the related mythology, was that not a far sweeter deal?
And if someday he found worlds like the Little Garden, Type-Moon, or Campione, he could ascend to an entirely new level from historical resonance alone, without lifting a finger.
"Oh my, I thought you had completely lost yourself playing with those two little handmaidens these past few days. It seems it is not only your soul but also your body that has been growing closer to a dragon's nature.
That dragoness actually lets others share you."
Herta wore the expression of someone watching for entertainment, looking at Night with great interest, her small hand resting under her chin, as if genuinely puzzling over why Helena did not seem to mind in the slightest.
Well...Night naturally knew why.
Precisely because she was a dragon, she understood it best.
She simply did not view Amy and Ella as any kind of threat.
And Helena truly did not care.
They were little more than playthings at best, not even worth eating, too small to bother with.
There was nothing to be gained from making a fuss.
In the world of dragons, very little warranted that kind of attention.
In Helena's eyes, it was nothing more than a strong being exerting dominance over weak ones and toying with them for amusement.
Nothing strange about it at all.
If anything, she was now impatient to head to the new world.
On Night's end, he gave Herta a light pat and told her to stop rambling.
"Enough. Open the passage already.
If you want to try too, well, we are both in spiritual form right now, without bodies..."
Before he could finish, Herta's face had already flushed red, and she flung him straight into the simulated universe.
Muttering something unflattering under her breath,
"Fine. I hope your journey goes smoothly this time."
Then she produced a reclining chair and some popcorn from somewhere, began humming a little tune, and turned to watch the projected world of the simulated universe.
More good entertainment on the way.
She had long since gotten used to watching Night's adventures in the simulated universe like a film.
They were far more thrilling and true to life than anything out of a Hollywood production.
.
.
.
Meanwhile,
On the other side,
As the familiar weightlessness of the spiritual body arrived, Night remained in the dark for an unknown time until finally nearing the threshold.
First his five senses began to return.
Gradually, he became aware of the heaviness of a physical body.
Was this a debuff inherited from the save state at the end of his last run?
At this moment, though his senses told him his wounds had fully healed, there was a faint sense of frailty about him.
Even so, that frailty was rapidly fading under the force of his powerful vitality.
Then a voice reached his ears, bright and relieved, a woman's voice.
"He is awake. Go and notify Lord Hector."
A flurry of sounds followed, many people moving about in a hurry.
When Night opened his eyes, he found a beautiful face looking down at him.
Long hair the color of sea-blue silk was tied back in a ponytail that fell across her chest.
Her complexion was fair, and her eyes were a warm golden-orange that seemed almost to speak on their own, filled with gentleness and concern.
The young woman, dressed in white Greek sacred priestess robes, introduced herself.
"Welcome back from the Underworld, Hero who drove back the great Achilles.
This is Troy. We have returned to the city-state. You may rest at ease.
I am Chryseis, the one entrusted with watching over your condition.
Someone has already been sent to inform Lord Hector of your awakening.
I am certain that when the prince sees you have woken, he will be overjoyed."
....
"Chry... seis?" Night felt a vague sense of familiarity with the name.
But before he could give it much thought, suddenly, the connection to the other end of the soul contract vanished entirely.
His expression shifted slightly.
Did something happen to Helena?
What was going on?
He had asked Herta about this beforehand.
If he were to bring the red dragon princess with him, since Helena had not yet been born in the age of divine Hellas, she would most likely be assigned an identity just as he had been, or perhaps arrive in the wilderness as an unaligned wild presence with no set role.
When he had arrived just moments ago, he had still been able to faintly sense the connection, and had planned to find an opportunity to locate Helena afterward.
But the connection had vanished immediately?
No. Not vanished.
It had become so faint as to be nearly imperceptible, faded to the point where he could detect almost no trace of it at all.
He could only confirm that she had not yet died.
Something struck Night suddenly, and a cold weight settled in his chest.
Had the gods intervened?
.
.
.
(End of the Chapter)
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