The Max Level Hero Has Returned!

Willow wanted to build a snowman. She wanted to go out and play, having a snowball fight. She had never truly experienced it before.

‘I’ve never felt the snow directly. I’ve only seen it.’

That single sentence had felt like a dagger to Davey's heart the first time he heard it, but that didn’t matter—he knew he could make things different now.

“I’ll make it snow,” he promised.

“How about using blizzard?”

“No way. She’d be buried in snow before we could even have a snowball fight.”

“Is there even a specific spell that makes it snow?”

“There’s a spell for weather control, but the problem is that this world isn’t a normal world.”

They were in Willow's inner world. Weather manipulation magic required a substantial amount of interference. Davey couldn’t risk putting such a strain on her already-weakened inner world.

Since that was the case, the solution was to use minimal, conventional magic to create a moderate snow in the world..

“Making the impossible possible is our thing. If she can dream it, we can do it.”

From that day on, their plan began.

Being able to open Willow and her scar-filled heart in just a couple of days would be miraculous, regardless of whatever price was paid.

* * *

Using a cold tone, Willow looked up at the bright sky and snapped, “So. Where’s the snow?”

It wasn’t that Davey failed to understand her feelings.

Snow had to fall immediately for them to do anything in a winter wonderland, and since she still didn't see any, she likely thought he was playing a prank on her.

“Don’t you trust your dad?”

“Of course, I don’t trust you.”

She didn’t just say she couldn’t trust him. She flat-out said she didn’t trust him at all.

Yet, Davey kept his smile.

Thunk! Thunk!

“I knew you’d say that, so I prepared a little surprise.”

He tapped the large device next to him covered with a cloth.

“What’s that?”

“A device that’ll make it snow. Now, prepare yourself. Dum-dum-dum.”

Hearing his exaggerated tone, a small sigh escaped her lips.

Suddenly, she turned her head in surprise, and he saw her cover her mouth. It looked as if she was trying to hold back her laughter.

Regardless, there was a chance for him to make a core memory for her there. For that, he was deeply grateful.

Davey ripped the cloth off like a hawker introducing a new product, revealing a very crude-looking device.

Willow had a hard time understanding the theatrical flair he was putting on it. “Why don’t you just use magic?”

“This inner world is yours, after all. Using weather manipulation magic here would put a strain on you, and I absolutely can’t do that.”

“It doesn’t look like it’ll work,” she muttered coldly, her face full of suspicion, yet she seemed curious.

“Watch closely.” Davey lightly pulled the device’s lever. Then, he channeled a large amount of mana and activated it.

With a faint sound, the mana stones embedded in the device began to slowly move and resonate, and then something started spewing out through the trumpet-shaped tube at the top.

“Huh? That’s it?”

What came out was a very small amount of snow. It was snow so minuscule that saying it was snowing was almost embarrassing. It was just a sprinkling, nowhere near enough to be considered a proper snowfall.

“Haah. Of course. That’s how all the things you do are,” she said in a disappointed tone before turning away.

However, she soon stopped in her tracks. “Huh?”

That was because white, glowing powder had begun to fall around her as she walked away.

She quickly turned her head in surprise and looked at the device.

Instead of sprinkling a small amount of snow like before, it abruptly began to shoot up a tremendous amount of snow, enough to cover the entire surrounding area.

While it technically wasn’t real snow, if she hadn’t seen the device first, she would’ve believed it was actually snowing.

“This is all it can do for now. It’s only an imitation.”

However, once they left the place and breathed the air of the outside world again, he could show her real, proper snow.

Saying that, he approached her with a smile on his face. “Congratulations! How does it feel to see the first snow?”

Willow, who had her eyes glued on the snowflakes slowly falling from the sky, trembled faintly.

“It’s cold...” She paused for a moment. “Cold...”

That was enough.

Perserque returned after preparing something, bringing a scarf that seemed hand-knitted and wrapping it around her neck.

“What’s this?” Willow was surprised to see the sudden gift.

“It’s for you to wear so you don’t get cold.”

“I don’t get cold.” More accurately, her resistance was just too strong.

“Still...”

“Forget it. How do you have a snowball fight?”

“Good! I’ll teach you. Watch carefully.”

Davey waited until a certain amount of snow had piled up around them. Once there was some on the ground, he reached out, gathered the snow, and molded it into a sphere.

“You can make it like this by rolling the snow into a ball. And then...” He chuckled and threw the snowball at Perserque’s back.

“Gasp!”

She screamed at the sudden sneak attack and kicked him, sending him flying.

“AHAHAHAHA!” He let out a cheerful laugh before immediately jumping up and making two more snowballs.

“Oh, you want a war, do you? Then I won’t back down.”

“Are you going to fight alone? Why don’t both of you jump in?”

Willow glared at him silently, then turned away. “No thanks. I’d rather fight both of you... Gasp!”

A snowball flew to her face as she spoke confidently. “What are you doing?!”

“It already started, didn’t you know? If you fight alone, you’ll become a snowman in no time.” He waved his hand as if conducting a symphony, and at the same time, snowballs went flying across the field. “By the way, if you want to enjoy a proper snowball fight, it’s best to roll them with your own hands.”

She was flabbergasted. “Then why are you—!”

“I’m by myself, after all. I need this much of an advantage.”

“What kind of dirty trick is that... Aaah!” Seeing snowballs flying toward her, Willow jumped high to avoid them.

Davey didn’t stop and chased after her. “Come on! Come at me all you want. Throw them as hard as you can if you’re angry at me.”

At those words, she made a crooked smile. “Don’t go back on your words!”

Then she quickly strode over and swiftly molded snowballs.

Davey, however, had no intention of letting up and continued to hurl snowballs at her.

“D-Don’t cheat!! How am I supposed to fight when I have no ammo?!”

“Hmm. Should I really consider such circumstances in a snowball fight?”

When he kept teasing her with a sneer, she ground her teeth.

“Fine! Try me.”

He figured that was enough. Rather than letting her be caught up in useless brooding and failing to enjoy herself, he’d stir up her anger toward him and make her enjoy the moment to her heart’s content.

Soon after, Perserque started throwing snowballs to keep him in check, and he dodged and counter-attacked in return.

However, once he redirected his focus to her, he lost sight of Willow.

Thud!

“Ugh!” Davey screamed and recoiled, and Willow chuckled.

“Turns out you’re not all that.”

“Oh yeah? Let’s see about that.”

Before she realized, the three were in a friendly family snowball fight.

* * *

“Nope! That’s not it! If a snowball comes flying, this side stays completely defenseless!”

“Huh. I see.”

“Block that side tightly! If another one flies in, we’ll be buried in snow.”

“That might be nice too.”

“While I keep him in check, hurry and make more snowballs.”

Without even realizing how big her own smile was, Willow excitedly kept throwing snowballs and ducking into hiding.

“Ahaha...... ahahahaha!! Serves you right!” She even burst out laughing without meaning to.

Perserque and Davey didn’t bother to point that out. Just seeing her happy already put their minds at ease.

They continued for about another thirty minutes, continuing the struggle called a snowball fight, though it felt more like a snow war.

They had started to cooperate fairly well. Willow even made a snow wall for defense and launched a counterattack, almost as if she were going all in.

Frankly, it was a relief that she didn’t shove stones inside the snowballs out of anger, but even though they were just snowballs, the force behind the ones she threw was quite impressive.

Davey watched her with a proud feeling as she forgot her worries and focused on the snowball fight like a child, and he adjusted himself to match her energy.

Without even remembering her original stance and reluctance, she kept squealing, throwing snowballs, and hiding. She looked no different from a child seeing the first snow of the year.

From a planning standpoint, it was a resounding success. It loosened her guard a little.

However, more than that, he couldn’t help feeling even happier that this moment gave him the chance to grant one of the things she had wished for.

Willow ran around for a long time, even panting for breath, and it took quite a while before she came back to her senses.

Still, Davey had no intention of letting the opportunity slip away like this.

* * *

“Haah. Haah.” Buried in the snow, Davey breathed roughly.

Looking down from above, Willow had the smile of a victor. “Easy peasy.”

He had already ambushed her several times before, even carrying out snow attacks by stuffing snow down the back of her clothes.

Perhaps she had found him extremely annoying as he dodged and intercepted her attacks.

She used every method she could, and him being buried in the snow was the result.

“Well? Satisfied?”

She suddenly realized how she looked and flinched as she stepped back. “Ahem! Ahem! Well, not bad.”

“But you know what? This isn’t the end.” Davey smirked, pulled himself out of the snow, and brushed it off.

He then made another snowball, and she cautiously raised her own snowball in her hand.

“You want another round?”

“No. If we only do snowball fights, it’ll get boring. We should do something else too.” He set the snowball on the ground and slowly started rolling it.

“What are you doing?”

“I’ll teach you how to make a snowman now.”

“A snowman!! Ha! Ahem! Ahem! T-then... go ahead and show me.”

As he kept rolling, the size of the snowball gradually began to grow.

“It’s called rolling snow. See? It’s bigger than before, right?”

“But it’s still small,” she complained.

“There’s a trick to it. Watch closely.”

He kept rolling and would occasionally tap the weaker spots to make it firmer.

When he showed her the snowball that had become clearly bigger, rounder, and harder than before, her eyes flashed as if she had thought of something.

“Want to try it yourself?”

“Ummm...You’re not making me do it, you know. I’m just doing it because I want to.”

As she said that, she crouched down on the ground and started rolling a snowball.

He quickly realized that she was getting lost in her thoughts again. He also knew that there was always a sure cure for times like this.

“Huh? Guess you don’t have the knack for it, then?”

He swaggered around and teased her once more, and she visibly became angry. The hostility in her eyes ignited as she silently glared at him. “Let’s see who can make the bigger one.”

Her determination was impressive.

At first, she only wanted to make a snowman of a reasonable size, but instead—

“My goodness... What did you do in just thirty minutes...”