Seeing Frondier make a joke that somehow both fit and didn't fit the situation,

Selena blinked her surprised eyes, her flowing tears stopped, and then finally,

“Waaaaaaaaah!!!”

She cried even harder.

“Hey, Selena.”

“Waah! Uu, Waaaaaaaaah!!”

Selena cried like a child, as if the whole world were ending. Frondier placed his hand on Selena's head.

As he stroked her head as usual, while Selena cried, he briefly looked up.

To Frondier, who had absorbed the black monster, undergone astral projection, and taken back control from the evil spirits, a whole new world was now visible.

He was able to observe not only what was visible to the human eye, but also spiritual and supernatural substances and beings.

Naturally, this included ‘gods.’

[…….]

Hela looked at Frondier with disbelief in her eyes.

What was that just now? With one grasp of Frondier's hand, the gathering of evil spirits had vanished. It was better than the onslaught of evil spirits when he touched the fragments, but that gathering was no pushover.

Hela had predicted Frondier's defeat, and even if he won, she believed that his soul would be scarred beyond repair. But.

─Hela.

At that moment, Frondier moved his lips.

─You have lost the fragment and soul to descend with, and right now, we have no way to reach each other, so.

With a look as if he were soothing a child.

─How about a draw?

[……!]

Hela gritted her teeth. It was a draw in name only; it was Frondier's clear declaration of victory.

But even with that provocation, Hela could do nothing for the moment. Now that the glacier was broken, there was no immediate medium to gather the faith of the monsters.

Hela turned her head, engraving Frondier one last time in her eyes of rage before disappearing.

Seeing that, Frondier sighed inwardly with relief. Because she was a god, he thought she might be able to do something else.

The ‘draw’ statement was also uttered because of that, but it seemed to have provoked the opponent instead.

“Let's go back, Selena.”

“Waaah! I, sob, Frondier-nim, you,”

“I said let's go back.”

“Sob, I thought you were dead, sob, but! Sob sob!”

Though Frondier had achieved all his goals.

It seemed it would still take some time to return.

* * *

The fragments of Helheim, which had become obsidian, were all put into the newly created black lotus.

After the fragments, which had served as a focal point, disappeared, the monsters came to their senses.

Of course, there were those who tried to attack Frondier or Selena due to their inherent hatred of humans, but after Frondier conducted a few ‘tests’ with his newly acquired mana, they ran away on their own.

He put down the Workshop, took out the people of the Ambu who were inside, and confirmed their promise to each other once again with the leader.

They had never met each other, and they were just returning after completing their mission. He also spoke to Laurie separately and asked her to do the same. Laurie nodded with a very tense expression.

And Selena and Frondier, just as they had come here, rode Cassian and headed back towards the barrier.

On their way back.

“…….”

“…….”

Frondier was a little uncomfortable with Selena's long silence behind him.

After crying her heart out, Selena had been hanging her head almost all day, as if lost in thought.

“……Hey, Selena.”

Eventually, Frondier spoke first.

“Selena, you were a great help today. I'll definitely repay you somehow,”

“Please forget it.”

Selena suddenly spoke in a voice that trailed off.

“Forget what?”

“…….”

“That you were crying earlier?”

“I wasn't crying.”

What was this?

Even if she had shed a single tear after watching a sad movie, she wouldn't answer so shamelessly.

“And, Frondier-nim.”

“Yes?”

“Please speak to me as you usually do. It's awkward.”

“Usually?”

“……Right now, Frondier-nim, your, your tone is too gentle.”

Ah.

At Selena's point, Frondier realized his mistake.

He had deliberately adopted a high-handed attitude to avoid showing weakness to Selena and to make the hierarchy clear.

He had believed it would always be that way, but now that the tension had eased, somehow that tone wouldn't come out.

‘No, maybe that's not entirely true.’

-Selena, thank you.

The moment he uttered those words to Selena just before being engulfed by the fragments.

Perhaps something had changed within not only Selena but also Frondier himself.

“……Right.”

But Frondier decided to go back to his usual way of speaking, as Selena had said.

Sudden changes made relationships unstable. Even if they were getting closer, Frondier and Selena weren't in a situation where they could do that yet.

Going back to the way things were before these events happened. That was beneficial for both Selena and Frondier.

Selena asking him to forget that she cried must have been out of that thought as well. Selena was also doing her best in her own way.

……No, it also seemed like she was just embarrassed

“Selena, return to your usual expression before we arrive.”

“Understood.”

“And wipe away your tear stains.”

“I wasn't crying.”

Right, this kind of conversation was appropriate for us. Frondier, swaying with Cassian's leisurely movements, had leisurely thoughts.

But feeling somewhat disappointed somewhere.

“Oh, right.”

“Yes?”

“Since my clothes are also a mess because of this incident,”

Frondier looked back.

Despite having decided to return to a high-handed and authoritative tone, his face was too warm.

“When we go to buy your clothes, I should buy mine too.”