The Greatest Warrior of All Time Returns-Chapter 374

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Chapter 374

Of course, even if it was called a prototype, that didn’t mean it was a finished product.

What surprised me quite a bit was how incredibly difficult the field of hair-loss treatment actually was.

Hair loss, fundamentally, was the death of hair root cells.

From a medical standpoint, this wasn’t simple treatment—it was closer to revival.

To solve this with alchemy and magi-engineering, there was only one method.

Using genetic information to activate the genes of one’s original hair root cells, and generating new cells to replace the dead ones.

Naturally, since a human body isn’t some sort of assembly-type robot, most of the process had to be substituted by medicine.

What I had made now was something created purely on theoretical grounds, so I had never actually confirmed whether it worked on someone else.

As I was pondering, Arsha clapped her hands.

“Oh! Brother. There’s a bald dog wandering around the duke’s manor. I heard it lost all its fur because of some illness.”

“Really? Hmm… I suppose it should work.”

I immediately went out and easily succeeded in capturing that bald dog.

The poor thing had patches of fur missing everywhere and looked terrible.

Yip!

Whine.

After calming the trembling dog down, I poured the medicine onto the bald areas and applied it thoroughly.

Then, I observed.

You wouldn’t see a visible difference for at least a day, but all I needed to check was whether the medicine activated upon entering the body.

Using necromantic mana, I monitored the circulation of life force throughout its body for a while.

“Oh. It’s showing some effect.”

The cells in the bald patches began showing signs of change.

“Oooh…”

As I let out a sound of admiration, Arsha’s eyes sparkled.

“Brother! Will this little one be cured?”

“Yes. I think its fur will grow back in a few days. Not bad at all.”

I sealed the remaining liquid and stored it.

Anyway, this hair-loss medicine was meant as a buying-power item, not something I urgently needed to sell.

To be honest, Cascadia was already in a fairly wealthy financial situation now.

Soon, the time Arsha mentioned arrived, and the attendant Valgard was guarding Melissa’s office.

Normally, Melissa would never make him do something like that, so of course I became curious.

Valgard’s family had served Cascadia for generations, so his loyalty was rather deep, and he was keeping a thorough watch over the surroundings.

Valgard sensed my presence and quietly bowed.

“You’ve arrived, young master.”

“You’re working hard. Why exactly are you guarding her office?”

“I merely follow the lady’s commands.”

“You’re working hard, I see? Go rest now. I’ll take care of things.”

“I’m sorry, but that I cannot do. It is the lady’s direct order. Especially… she told me to prevent you, young master, from entering the room at all costs…”

At that, I nodded.

Valgard wasn’t someone who could be bribed with money.

“Valgard. Let’s be honest. Whatever Melissa hid—do you think it’s anything serious? She probably hid something because she’d be embarrassed if I saw it, right?”

“Haha… even so, orders come first for me…”

“Tch. Fine. If you say no, then no. Forget it. It’s not particularly important, and I should respect my little sister’s privacy.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

Good. Since I got him talking, there was no need to force anything.

“By the way, Valgard. Isn’t wearing a hat indoors a little strange?”

He was wearing something like a flat cap, and the moment I pointed it out, he flinched and pressed the hat down.

“T-this… I…”

“I know. It’s because of your hair, right? Hair loss isn’t a crime. It’s an unavoidable part of life. Even holy magic can’t fix that.”

At my words, his expression turned gloomy.

“Thank you for understanding.”

“When did the symptoms start?”

“S-sir… I am on duty…”

“That’s why we should talk here. You’re supposed to watch for anyone coming, right? I’ll help.”

Though suspicious, he didn’t push me away.

“The symptoms… started about one or two years ago. At first just a few strands… then one morning I woke up, and a noticeable amount was gone…”

With a sorrowful face, he truly looked as though he had lost the will to live.

Losing your hair at a young age must feel like losing the world.

Now that I thought about it, Melissa once said one of the attendants was becoming depressed and considering quitting.

So it was this guy.

“You’ve had a rough time.”

“What can one do… even the priests of the Holy Kingdomj cannot cure it. I should just be grateful it isn’t fatal.”

“Hmm… may I take a look?”

“M-my… hair, sir?”

“Yes.”

He hesitated a long time before removing his hat.

I placed my hand on his scalp and released a thin stream of necromantic mana.

His life force movement was irregular.

This was complete death of hair root cells—unlike alopecia areata, which could be treated. This was true baldness.

“Yeah, this is definitely gone. Medicine alone won’t fix it.”

“Ugh…”

He looked as though he might cry, and I patted his shoulder sympathetically.

“Valgard. You’ve served the Cascadia estate the longest, haven’t you?”

“T-that is correct…”

“And hearing that one of our loyal attendants is suffering… I couldn’t just ignore it. So, I made something.”

I pulled out a vial of transparent liquid.

“Y-young master? What is this?”

“Your rope of salvation.”

His eyes widened to the point they looked like they would tear.

“W-what…?”

“I made this prototype recently. It seems to have an effect. If it works, great. If not, we lose nothing. Want to try?”

His eyes trembled violently.

“In the preliminary test, it succeeded. New hair root cells grew to replace the dead ones.”

Though he didn’t fully understand, he couldn’t take his eyes off the vial.

“Y-young master! Is that truly real?!”

“Yes. And I just happened to need a test subject. There are no real side effects, and if it doesn’t work, well, too bad. Want to try?”

“Thank you! Thank you!! Oh… oh heavens…”

He dropped to his knees and prayed.

“Have someone else take your shift and apply the medicine. I need to know if it works so I can improve it.”

He clearly wanted to run off immediately and apply it.

Hook, line, and sinker.

“Valgard. Go apply it.”

“I… I shouldn’t… ugh…”

“Oh, right. It’s a prototype, so it has a short shelf life. If you wait until your shift ends, its effectiveness might fade.”

Of course, that was a lie. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It didn’t lose potency in just a few hours.

“W-what?!”

“So go on. You’ve already held out long enough. You know that, right?”

“Ugh… t-then…!”

In the end, he couldn’t overcome the desire to escape baldness.

Seriously… the people of Cascadia Manor are loyal, but they’re also very faithful to their desires.

Watching him run off while clutching the vial like divine treasure, Arsha, Luna, and Grivy popped out from hiding.

“Let’s go.”

Unlock

Clack!

Opening the heavily locked door, we entered Melissa’s office.

At first glance, it looked the same as always.

But there HAD to be a reason she tried so hard to keep me away.

“Everyone, begin the search.”

At my sinister grin, Arsha and Grivy dashed around excitedly, peeking everywhere, while Luna sat on the sofa, stuffing nearby snacks into her mouth.

“Baby. This is what happens when you hide things from daddy.”

She continued muttering nonsense to the child in her belly.

Melissa hadn’t hidden anything extravagant.

No…

Correction.

“Wait… is this…?”

“Oh…”

It was extravagant.

“A love letter? Seriously?”

Melissa was dating someone!

The curiosity gauge in me, Luna, and Arsha skyrocketed.

Melissa was always so busy with work that she treated men like rocks.

We’d often tease her—who was she ever going to marry?

Did she even meet men?

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And since she was already the Duke of Cascadia, she didn’t need a political marriage.

I opened the envelope she had carefully hidden.

Then someone spoke.

“Leon. If Melissa ever brings home a man she wants to marry, what will you do?”

“What do you think? If she likes him, I have no reason to stop her. Melissa has her own life.”

Considering her age, it was early but not too early.

And it wasn’t even marriage yet—just romance.

Honestly, it was a bit late.

Before we got married, Luna and I used to tease Melissa all the time about being a lifelong single.

We were both the same at the time, so it never hurt.

And now the girl who used to act so uninterested in romance was secretly exchanging love letters?

I couldn’t resist.

A whole stack of letters—clearly they’d been exchanging them for some time.

“But there’s a condition.”

I had said this before.

Hooh… this guy huh?

To become Melissa’s husband, he needed strength at least comparable to mine.

If not?

Absolutely not.

“Melissa was right to hide this from Leon.”

Still… curiosity was eating us alive.

Just how had he won Melissa’s heart?

Who was the owner of these letters?

The fluffy, tingling sweetness of a budding romance was written all over them, and it made me laugh uncontrollably.

KWAANG!!

That was when the door, firmly shut, suddenly slammed open.

Grivy, Sur, and Serqet dropped their cookies in shock and hiccuped.

Luna, beside me, smoothly vanished into thin air like she had been waiting for this, murmuring:

“Adan, Kelidas.”

It was the signature stealth line from the assassin class in the adventure game built into the Paradise Artifact.

Unbelievable.

Arsha darted behind the sofa to hide.

“You son of a— how the hell did you get in here?!”

“Melissa. Your brother is touched.”

“Cut the crap and give it back!!”

With a face burning crimson, she charged.

Of course, Melissa was a Sword Master.

She wasn’t stupid enough to lose in such childish antics.

Her hand flashed like a bolt of lightning, and she snatched the letter back.

Naturally, I had already memorized the contents.

“When did it start? Doesn’t seem very long. He’s not an academy cadet… hmm…”

“Sh-shut up!!”

“So why did you come back early?”

“I put out the urgent fire and rushed home. Sigh… and you couldn’t wait a single day before breaking in?!”

“So. Who is it?”

She froze, her face reddening even more, and stepped back.

Luna and I bent slightly, grinning wickedly as we circled her like sharks.

“Oooh. She has a boyfriend. Someone from the academy?”

“N-no, you brat…”

“Hmm. Your heart rate is impressive. Classic symptoms seen only in romance beginners.”

“Wh-what are you saying?! Like you have any dating experience!”

At that, Luna stroked her belly.

“Sorry, but I’m already married and pregnant. I am your unreachable senior.”

“Wow… screw you…”

Watching her flustered to death, I snickered.

“Well. I’m not against you dating. So let me ask.”

“W-what…”

“Is he strong?”

“….”

Her jaw dropped.

“To take you away, he needs to be at least as strong as me. I said that clearly.”

“Are you trying to make me die single?! Get OUT!”

She drove all of us out—Arsha included, and even the spirits who had been hiccuping while watching with great interest.

* * *

A day passed.

Melissa had thrown us out, and we couldn’t investigate any further.

But we understood what she had been hiding.

So Luna, Arsha, and I came together and began brooding over it.

Her dating wasn’t a problem.

But not knowing who her crush was—that was unacceptable.

“We must stop it if he’s useless or not properly human.”

She was my precious sister, after all, even if I teased her a lot.

All we learned from the letters was that the guy was about my age.

Nothing else.

As we were thinking hard about who he could be—

“Y-young master!!”

Valgard’s panicked voice came from outside.

He had only been gone a day to apply the medicine.

When I told him to enter, he rushed in and knelt before me.

“Young master! I will be grateful to you for the rest of my life! Thank you!!”

Shockingly, Valgard was not wearing a hat—and his head was now full of lush, thick hair.

“So, it did work?”

“Yes! Truly… truly I had to pinch my cheeks many times to see if it was a dream! Young master is my lifetime savior. I, Valgard, devote the rest of my life to you and House Cascadia!!”

His joy was overwhelming.

Was hair loss really that serious?

I had never experienced it, so I didn’t know.

From then on, Valgard proudly displayed his hair.

Everyone who knew about his baldness whispered about it in surprise.

Out of curiosity, I selected a few people in the territory suffering from hair loss and gave them the medicine.

The effects appeared quickly.

It needed improvement—the effect was slightly weaker—but hope alone was enough to drive people mad with desire.

Rumors spread instantly.

And then—

Merchants began pouring into Cascadia.

I honestly hadn’t expected the reaction to be this explosive.

Fairy Wood?

Paradise Artifact?

Succubus Artifact?

Those drew great interest too, but this one…

This went beyond interest into madness.

“P-please, you must set an appointment—”

“No, I’ll pay!! Just sell it to me!! Please! Let me meet the Duke of Cascadia!!”

“How much?! NAME THE PRICE! I’ll buy it no matter how expensive!! Damn it! Take my money!! Let me meet either the duke or Lord Leon, the inventor!!”

“Y-you can’t do this!! I’m just an attendant…”

Nobles suffering the agony of baldness completely forgot their dignity and desperately pushed their way toward Cascadia.

Once the rumor spread, it swept across the continent like a storm—so fast it was almost frightening.

And eventually, even major figures began arriving.

I had no reason to meet rude people who arrived without notice.

But on the Lazarus continent, there were individuals who could ignore such rules.

“Who is it?”

“T-the one visiting… is the Emperor of the Western Continent. The Emperor of Boscal…”

“An emperor? From the western continent?”

“Yes… at first we couldn’t believe it either… but the imperial crest of Boscal is unmistakable…”

A wild, unfamiliar emperor had arrived.

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