Finally back...

After stepping off the public carriage and seeing the familiar police department buildings and the "ominous" six-story building of the Virgin Branch in the corner, Leon, travel-worn, felt a slight relaxation throughout his body, akin to the feeling of returning after ages.

The external mission to the Northern Kingdom was indeed overly arduous.

Although, from the time he arrived in Rehe City until the resolution with the Slaughter King Association and the Earth Offsprings, it only took about thirty hours, the follow-up tasks were exceedingly complex, dragging on for two weeks plus three and a half days.

In those two and a half weeks, apart from eating and sleeping, Leon mostly used the effects of the Soft Rice badge to patch the terrain for the Northern Kingdom, which had lost its mountain barriers.

In these days, he was practically inseparable from Melly, waking up to non-stop repairs, forcibly creating nineteen short intersecting ridges along the Northern Kingdom's coastline, barely addressing the storm disaster issues.

Next, he helped carve open Hexagonal Snow Mountain to let warm air from the Kingdom of Lutung pass through, and even dug four vertical and six horizontal large rivers to handle the glacier meltwater from climate warming, while also slowly squeezing buried mineral veins up from underground—so much to list.

All that can be said is, throwing out over a hundred mountain tops to crush people felt unusually satisfying, but the subsequent routine tasks were equally fatal, and this job couldn't be neglected.

After all, if any of these were mishandled, it would affect millions of ordinary people, and he couldn't just leave behind the mess he created... hmm... maybe it wasn't exactly 'creating a mess'?

Reflecting on the revitalized scene of the Northern Kingdom after two and a half weeks of changes thanks to the Soft Rice, Leon's steps towards the Virgin Branch suddenly felt a bit lighter.

Although he destroyed dozens of mountains in the Northern Kingdom, physically breaking the backbone of it, annihilating all facilities built against the mountains, which couldn't recover in ten, or eight years.

But he had a reason for doing all of this; if he didn't chase the Earth Offsprings away and let them create a lot of volcanoes, what the Northern Kingdom would lose would be far more than ten years.

Moreover, after such a major change in the landscape and terrain, the once vast but barren and cold Northern Kingdom not only was freed from over a dozen major disasters a year but its living environment was significantly improved, and gained dozens to hundreds of times more fertile land.

In the face of such great changes, even transforming from a mainland power to a "weak" nation reliant on international aid for selling minerals to exchange for food for a long period, the Northern Kingdom surely reaped massive benefits.

After all, given its previous state, even if the Northern Kingdom resorted to militaristic expansion for a hundred years, it couldn't acquire so much habitable land, so though he made quite a tumult, and deliberately sought considerable benefits for the Kingdom of Lutung, he didn't truly wrong anyone.

Yes, that's it!

…

Having successfully convinced his conscience, Leon retrieved the gift for the Red-haired Director from the Mirror World, carrying it in hand, and promptly strode through the dim corridor of the Virgin Branch, knocking on the office door of the Red-haired Director.

"Come in... ahem... come in quickly!"

Upon hearing the familiar voice of the Red-haired Director, Leon, who was in a good mood, immediately pushed the door open and entered, subsequently saying with a smile:

"Director, I'm back from the Northern Kingdom, and I also brought you... um..."

Seeing the tall and beautiful woman who was half-leaning over the desk, looking across a wide desk, angrily pinching the Director's neck, Leon couldn't help but be momentarily startled, then instinctively averted his gaze, slightly awkwardly:

"Emma, senior? You're back from your mission?"

"I...uh... I've just returned too."

Noticing Leon averting his gaze, becoming aware of her awkward position, Emma's face suddenly flushed, and she "reluctantly" released the Director's neck, pulling down the hem of her dress, then smilingly asked:

"How was it? Was the mission in the Northern Kingdom tough?"

Tough... it was indeed tough; for more than half a month, life was nothing short of unbearable, working intensively from dawn till dusk.

Especially after hearing news from that Toilet Princess, fearing movement from the Witch Kingdom while not having completed tasks in the Northern Kingdom, he started working around the clock, and managed to resolve the Northern Kingdom's issues within two and a half weeks; how could it not have been tough?

Yet now, it seemed his heart was aching more than physical exhaustion...

Looking at Emma, who maintained her gentle smile yet with an undefined sense of distance, Leon felt a slight ripple in his Heart Lake, faintly tinged with bitterness.

To be honest, having harbored feelings before towards the gentle and beautiful Emma who had been very supportive of him.

However, just when he was beginning to have some affection, before he could transform those vague, tender feelings into deeper emotions, Emma was reassigned to the field, and he was aggressively courted by the Princess, and then…

He opened the system panel and looked at the "Married Person" badge; Leon couldn't help but take a deep breath, nodding slightly with a complex expression, maintaining a "social distance" as he replied:

"It was okay, although I encountered some minor issues, everything was resolved smoothly in the end... and you, senior? Was your mission smooth?"

"I...I was about the same."

Stealing a glance at the ring on Leon's finger, the tall woman slightly lowered her head, softly responding:

"Initially it went smoothly, but later some damned troubles arose, dragging it on for quite some time, so recently it finally concluded... I even missed your wedding."

Ah this...

Hearing Emma mention his wedding, Leon momentarily didn't know what to say, so he awkwardly smiled, glossing over the topic, raising the wine in his hand towards the Red-haired Director.

"Well... Director, I've brought back the wine you wanted."

"Oh oh!"

Upon Leon passing the conversation to her, the Red-haired Director, who was rubbing her neck behind Emma, immediately adjusted her expression, coughing slightly as she spoke:

"Well, I knew you'd be able to do it, bringing me wine... ah not, the task was arduous, so after coming back, have a good rest!"

"Hmm hmm!"

Though he knew he probably couldn't rest for long, the faintly resentful gaze from behind had his Heart Lake uncontrollably swaying left and right. Realizing something was amiss, he didn't say much more, casually replying with a couple of sentences, then hurriedly left, making an excuse.

After Leon's slightly flustered figure disappeared in the ground floor corridor, Emma's gaze suddenly turned dangerous, pursing her lips and staring defiantly at the Red-haired Director, perfectly prepared to leap across the desk, renewing the "relationship" between her hands and the Director's neck.

"No no no! Don't be impulsive! I can explain! Assigning you consecutive tasks, leading you to miss Leon's event was not my doing!"

Placing her hands together in prayer, adopting a pleading posture, the Red-haired Director with eyes full of apology said:

"I only found out a few days ago that the High Witch King of Mifalla Kingdom previously contacted the director of the Pisces Branch, gifting her a Crystal Ball which contains many different weddings, leading to numerous different futures.

And among them, the wedding of Leon and Queen Veronica led to the best future for the Pisces Branch, so that wicked woman harbored selfish motives, sending you a bunch of joint action invitations, forcibly occupying your time...

Uh... Emma, I can swear on these bottles of wine on the table, I didn't conspire with her, I really knew nothing about it, and if I lied to you, may all this wine be drunk by Leon!"