Chapter 495: The Girl Who Thought Death Was Sleep

The Girl Who Thought Death Was Sleep

Selena looked at Shasa for a long moment.

There was something about the girl’s completely serious expression that made it difficult for her to look away.

Leon noticed it too.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

He tried to hold it back.

He really did.

But in the end, curiosity got the better of him.

"Hmm?"

He looked down at Shasa.

"Little one, do you know what it means to be ’croaked’?"

Shasa blinked.

She stared at him.

For a moment, she seemed completely lost.

Her brows slowly pulled together.

She looked genuinely confused.

"Croaked...?"

She repeated the word under her breath.

Then she thought about it.

And kept thinking.

The silence stretched.

Leon waited.

Selena waited too.

Shasa’s expression became increasingly serious, as if Leon had just handed her some ancient riddle that required her entire brain to solve.

A few seconds passed.

Then a few more.

She still said nothing.

Leon raised an eyebrow.

Was she actually thinking about it this hard?

Shasa finally lifted her eyes toward him.

The confusion was gone.

In its place was something much more dangerous.

She looked at Leon as though he had just asked the most ridiculous question imaginable.

"It means they’re gone."

She tilted her head.

Her expression remained completely serious.

Then she added, without the slightest hesitation,

"You’re so stupid. You don’t even know this."

Selena’s lips twitched.

Leon stared at Shasa.

Shasa stared right back.

She didn’t seem to realize that she had just insulted him.

Or perhaps she simply didn’t care.

To her, the answer was obvious.

Leon slowly rubbed his forehead.

He looked genuinely exhausted.

"...Right. I’m an idiot."

Shasa nodded with absolute confidence.

"Right. You are an idiot."

She said it so seriously that, for a moment, Leon didn’t even know how to react.

It was almost as if she had just taught him something incredibly important.

Her blue eyes looked at him with genuine disdain.

Not anger.

Not hatred.

Just pure disbelief.

It was the kind of expression someone wore after watching another person fail to understand something that seemed painfully obvious.

And the worst part was that Shasa clearly believed she was helping him.

Leon stared at her.

His eyebrow twitched.

Then he slowly rubbed his forehead again.

All right.

He could already confirm one thing.

This girl was definitely not ordinary.

Her strength was extraordinary.

Her instincts for survival were even more frightening.

And the way her mind worked...

That was extraordinary in an entirely different sense.

Leon wasn’t sure whether he should be impressed or worried.

Probably both.

Most ordinary people would have broken after experiencing what Shasa had.

Losing one’s parents was already enough to destroy someone.

But she hadn’t merely lost them.

She had watched her entire world collapse around her.

Her village had been torn apart by ferocious beasts.

People she knew had died.

Everything familiar had vanished.

And she had been left alone in the middle of it all.

Selena understood that kind of pain better than most.

She had experienced something similar herself.

But there was one crucial difference.

Selena had been lucky.

She had eventually found her way into the Celestis Academy.

She had been given a place where she could belong.

She had met Leon.

She had gained a Teacher who guided her.

She had found a path toward cultivation.

A future.

A reason to keep moving forward.

Shasa had received none of those things.

She hadn’t had anyone.

No academy.

No Teacher.

No powerful cultivator arriving to save her.

She had simply hidden inside a cabinet while the beasts tore through her village.

She had stayed there.

Quiet.

Terrified.

Listening to everything she knew being destroyed outside.

And somehow...

She had survived.

Leon looked at the stubborn young woman standing in front of him.

There was something strange about her.

Perhaps she was still too young to truly understand the weight of everything she had endured.

Perhaps her mind had simply refused to process it all at once.

Maybe this was how she had managed to survive.

She laughed.

She acted strangely.

She focused on simple things.

She treated obvious truths as though they were profound discoveries.

Maybe it was easier for her that way.

Leon didn’t know.

And he wasn’t sure he ever could.

But one thing was certain.

She was still standing.

That alone said more about her than words ever could.

Leon quietly sighed.

Then he glanced toward Selena.

He immediately noticed the change in her expression.

The teasing amusement she had shown earlier was gone.

Her eyes had softened.

There was a quiet sadness in them now.

Selena clearly couldn’t bear seeing Shasa like this.

She lowered herself slightly, bringing her face closer to Shasa’s eye level.

Her voice became gentle.

"Did you say the old hermit who gave you food brought you here?"

Selena glanced around the ruined street.

Her eyes searched the broken buildings, the empty road, even the shadows between the collapsed walls.

"Where is he?"

Shasa answered almost immediately.

"He also croaked."

Leon and Rias exchanged a glance.

Neither of them said anything.

Shasa, however, seemed completely unaware that anything was strange about her answer.

She continued talking in the same casual tone, as though she were telling them about something that had happened only yesterday.

"That night, he gave me a roasted sunflower seed cake."

A small smile appeared on her face at the memory.

Then it faded.

"He ate some too."

Shasa paused.

"Then he fell asleep."

She puffed out her cheeks slightly.

"The old hermit was so lazy."

"I called him."

"Again and again."

"He still didn’t get up."

A faint crease appeared between her brows.

"He’s been sleeping until now."

She wrinkled her nose.

"And he already smells bad."

Rias’s expression stiffened.

Selena slowly lowered her gaze.

Shasa continued, completely serious.

"He’s just like Father and Mother."

Her voice remained innocent, almost matter-of-fact.

"Things are in a terrible situation, but he still hasn’t woken up."

Silence.

Complete silence.

The three of them simply stood there.

No one knew what to say.

A faint breeze drifted through the ruined street.

It carried dust across the cracked ground.

Somewhere nearby, a loose piece of cloth hung from the remains of a broken building. The wind caught it and made it flutter softly against the wall.

Once.

Twice.

Leon stared at Shasa.

Only then did the meaning of her words finally sink in.

So that was what she meant by "croaked."

She wasn’t talking about death.

She was talking about sleep.

To Shasa, "croaked" simply meant that someone had gone to sleep and refused to wake up.

At least...

That was what she believed.

Leon felt something tighten in his chest.

He looked at the girl standing before them.

She wasn’t joking.

She genuinely didn’t understand.

Perhaps, somewhere in her mind, the line between life and death had become blurred by everything she had experienced.

Selena’s heart ached.

She looked at Shasa for a long moment.

Then she slowly turned toward Leon.

"Teacher..."

Her voice was barely more than a whisper.

"Why don’t we... bring her back?"

Selena looked at Shasa.

The young woman was standing there with an almost innocent expression. She had no idea how painful her story sounded to everyone listening.

Selena’s fingers slowly curled into her palm.

Her heart ached for her.

Shasa had been through far too much.

She was still so young, yet the things she had experienced were enough to break someone much older.

Compared to her, Selena suddenly felt incredibly fortunate.

She had been brought to the Celestis Academy.

She had entered the Amethyst Summit Division.

She had met Leon.

And, most importantly, she had been given a future.

A real future.

If she had been forced to walk the same path as Shasa...

Selena lowered her eyes.

She honestly didn’t know if she would have been able to keep standing.

Leon noticed the change in her expression.

He looked at Selena for a moment.

Then his gaze shifted back to Shasa.

A faint smile touched his lips.

He didn’t answer Selena right away.

Instead, he reached down and gently lifted Shasa from where she was standing.

Then he carefully placed her back on the ground.

Shasa landed firmly on her feet.

She blinked up at him.

Leon looked at her for a moment before asking,

"Little girl, who gave you food after the old Hermit fell asleep?"

Shasa’s expression changed instantly.

The confidence she had been wearing disappeared.

Her eyes darted away.

Leon followed her gaze.

Across the street, several young people were huddled together.

They were trying very hard to look like they weren’t watching them.

Leon recognized them immediately.

They were the same boys who had run away from Shasa earlier.

Shasa noticed that Leon had spotted them.

She lowered her voice.

"Do you see those little brats over there?"

She pointed toward them.

"They beg around town every day."

Her little nose wrinkled in obvious disdain.

"They pretend to be poor and helpless. Then they trick people into giving them food and drinks."

She folded her arms.

"I disdain doing things like that."

There was a brief pause.

Then Shasa lifted her chin with surprising pride.

"Usually, I just rob people."

Leon slowly raised an eyebrow.

Shasa didn’t seem to notice.

Or perhaps she simply didn’t understand why that statement was strange.

She continued as if she were explaining something completely reasonable.

"I went over and beat them up."

She raised both fists as she spoke.

"After I beat them up, they came back and showed their filial respect to me."

Her little fists swung enthusiastically through the air.

She threw one imaginary punch.

Then another.

Then another.

She looked completely absorbed in her own demonstration, as though she were reliving the battle right in front of Leon.

It was almost adorable.

One punch after another.

Each one was accompanied by an increasingly proud expression.

"Hehe."

She finally stopped and grinned.

"I’m very strong."

Leon stared at her.

For several seconds, he didn’t say a word.

He was genuinely stunned.

He had expected quite a few things when he asked about her past.

This?

Definitely not this.

Somehow, without even realizing it, this girl had become the little king of the children in Greyhaven City.

She hadn’t begged anyone for food.

She hadn’t tried to make friends with them.

She hadn’t even needed to persuade them.

She simply beat up whoever had food.

And apparently, after losing to her enough times, those children had reached a very practical conclusion.

Serving her was much safer than fighting her.

Leon couldn’t help but feel a little speechless.

What kind of strange childhood was this?

He looked at her small fists again.

They didn’t look particularly frightening.

Yet, judging from her story, those tiny hands had apparently beaten up an entire group of children.

And she was still proud of it.

Leon almost wanted to laugh.

But beneath his amusement was genuine curiosity.

Just how had this girl been born with such terrifying physical strength?

From everything she had told him, her parents were nothing more than ordinary villagers.

There was no mention of some ancient bloodline.

No powerful family standing behind her.

No great inheritance waiting for her.

And certainly no mysterious cultivation technique that could explain her strength.

Normally, innate physical abilities of this level came from one of two possibilities.

Either an extraordinarily powerful bloodline had been passed down through the family...

Or the person had once been an extraordinary existence and was now living a second life.

Leon narrowed his eyes slightly.

Neither explanation seemed to fit her.

And somehow, that only made the girl in front of him even more mysterious.

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Authors Notes: Dear Readers, Thanks so much for joining me on this adventure! Your enthusiasm, feedback, and encouragement really keep me motivated to keep bringing *Grand Return System* into existence. If you’re loving the Chapters, I’d love it if you supported my book with a Powerstone, review, or even a Golden Ticket—it helps me develop as a writer and lets more readers enjoy the story. I look forward to hearing your ideas and thoughts, so please don’t hesitate to share!

With love,

Scoturn777

Creator of Grand Return System

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