Back in the village, Reno told his stories to everyone gathered around a fire in the middle of the village.
The villagers had gathered—young and old, big and small—to hear the Ogre's feats once more.
Although aware of his strength, and not surprised by most of what he said, everyone listened with great admiration.
The warriors took notes very seriously and others already imagined themselves recreating Reno's insane movements.
As for Azraüs and Azraël, they also seemed to be listening carefully. Azraël listened calmly, fascinated by the story, while Azraüs seemed to be in heaven.
"There was one who grabbed my arm to immobilize me, so I crushed his hand with my biceps."
Even though Azraël and some warriors had trouble believing everything, Azraüs seemed even more amazed.
The villagers, in any case, seemed fascinated just by the presence of the warrior, so it wasn't a few extra absurdities that would make them doubt.
However, one of them still asked the question, calmly raising his hand and waiting for Reno to stop and notice him before speaking.
"Why didn't you form a clan?"
It was the question that had been surrounding him for a long time.
If Reno had had a clan like Valon, he could have stayed on the throne and kept his title as king, but he had chosen to remain alone.
That obviously prevented him from staying in the capital.
In fact, to be more precise, it had prevented him from staying in the capital…
Reno took his time to answer, looking at the fire burning at his feet with a somewhat dark gaze and a thoughtful mind.
"I didn't want to at first. When I was a kid, I thought I could do what Nozras did. Without support, and only with my raw strength and my feats. And I managed it for a time."
He paused slightly, then continued.
"But now I realize that it was a mistake… Nevertheless, I still have fun smashing them from time to time."
No one said a word for a long moment. It was true that for many warriors, the main goal wasn't really to become king, but to sit on the throne, even just for a moment, to show that they were the strongest—that they were worthy of being king.
But there were always new warriors, new challengers coming to face the one sitting there.
Reno and Rita themselves had challenged Zvrag and had won. And yet, Zvrag had a clan, and he still lost.
Reno had come to the conclusion, like many warriors, that it was enough to become king. But he was wrong. Zvrag was powerful alone and could rival the couple, but not his clan.
When Reno and Rita stood before him, he could have beaten them if it had been two separate one-on-one fights. But they were two. Zvrag lost.
It was probably the same for Nozras. The overwhelmingly powerful warrior didn't need a clan, but once he had one, he only fought when warriors passed through the clans first. And when they finally reached Nozras, they lost.
Zvrag didn't have enough time to stabilize and grow his strength, which led to his downfall. Nozras was too powerful for anyone who passed his clans to defeat him. And no one passed his clans anyway.
Unfortunately for him, Zvrag had faced the young couple.
Reno, on the other hand, didn't have that problem. He was just as powerful to impose his will on anyone who stood before him, and no one had any chance of defeating him. The difference was that he had a family.
Unable to leave a child in that murderous place, Rita left, and Reno followed out of parental responsibility—something he never imagined himself doing at the beginning.
In the end, if he had had a clan, he could have asked them to protect the child and his mother while he defended the throne until they grew up, and he would have become king.
But his mistake was thinking he would never need one. The birth of Azraël had proven him wrong.
And then, the biggest issue in all of this was probably that, for some reason, Reno couldn't bring himself to leave his family and not watch his children grow.
Clans began to form outside the capital, gathering more and more warriors—both loyal and disloyal—as the fighting continued. However, Rita and Reno had gone their own way until the very end, preventing them from having a satisfying conclusion.
Nozras had no family and surely didn't care about it. Rita and Reno were different.
Lost deep in thought, Reno's gaze drifted into the flames when suddenly, a small cold hand touched his skin.
"Don't worry, dad. When I grow up, we'll go back together and beat everyone up."
Azraüs, with his big starry eyes, broke the silence.
Everyone looked at him with a small smile, and all thought that if he was the son of the Ogre and the last of the Obu, then it was possible.
Reno smiled in return, clearly pleased by his son's words. Then he placed a hand on his head and gently patted it.
"I'm sure you'll manage, son. After all, you're my son."
The villagers burst out laughing in unison.
Azraüs didn't understand why, but he laughed as well for the mood.
Only Azraël didn't laugh. The four-year-old seemed to fear something.
He seemed to understand that things couldn't go so well…
He seemed wary of the future…
Several months later, Reno returned to the capital.
This time, he stayed there for two months before coming back with a new weapon that he presented to his sons.
Rita advised him to clean it first because it was covered in blood.
Reno apologized and then handed the blade to Azraüs, who seemed far more excited about it than Azraël.
Rita smiled when she saw the little boy running dangerously with the knife toward the warriors who were talking further away. Everyone made a frightened face when they saw the little Ogre heading toward them with a big smile and a bladed weapon.
With slight satisfaction, she wondered if she herself wasn't becoming a bit rusty. It had been a long time since she had properly fought.
Her last fights dated back to training sessions with passing warriors or with Reno. Small routines she maintained to stay in shape. Of course, she was no longer as sharp as in her prime, but she was still that famous warrior who had sat on the throne beside her husband. A shared achievement. The time when she cut down warriors alongside Reno… she missed it more than she thought.
A part of her had always wanted to get rid of that fighting side her mother had forced into her. The one her childhood had branded into her skin like a red-hot mark. But the pleasure she had found fighting alongside Reno was different. She always fought with a faint smile when she was with him. And now that she had stopped… she felt a little empty too.
Of course, her family filled her with joy, and seeing Reno take care of their children reassured her more than anything, but it seemed that the very spirit of Nozras still lingered within its descendants… and within the land itself.
So, with light steps, she walked toward Reno and gave him a firm tap right in the middle of his chest. It might have seemed like a trivial gesture, but Reno immediately understood what it meant.
"I'll come with you next time. I think it'll do me good."
Reno looked at her in surprise, then quickly forgot about it and gave her a wide grin.
Eight months later, they left again—but this time, together.
Azraël held his brother's hand to stop him from leaving.
The poor boy had heard his parents talking about the trip, so he had quietly packed his bag and gathered some weapons, trying to sneak away without being seen. Unfortunately, he had been caught right outside his tent by Rita, who handed him over to his brother.
As the couple walked once more toward new battles, Rita turned back to look at her village.
This time, she was leaving by her own will—not because of an order.
She felt at ease, surrounded by a real family and good people who cared for her, even if she didn't need it. And yet… she was leaving. Not for long, but still. Freedom… this was probably what Reno had been chasing all this time, and now it was something she wanted to taste as well. She, who had been treated like a soldier, locked away and trained to kill, could now come and go to the ends of the world without restraint. Without a violent mother to remind her of her place, without proud villagers to remind her of her fault.
"You coming?"
And the one she had achieved all this with… was Reno.
And yet, sometimes, the young man looked at her as if she were crazy. At the same time, she had started smiling randomly, her expression filled with immense joy and relief.
"Thank you."
Reno didn't always understand Rita and her constant thanks, but he remembered that she often thanked him when she looked at beautiful landscapes, her hair dancing in the wind.
Are my muscles that beautiful today?
So maybe… he was the beautiful landscape?
Rita quickly caught up to him, smiling, and together they headed toward the capital, ready to reclaim the throne.
At the entrance of the village, where most of the admiring people and the couple's two children stood, a villager stopped near them as they watched their parents leave, then asked Azraël:
"Don't you think she doesn't deserve that name? 'The last of the Obu' only reminds her of her heavy past. What would you call her?"
Azraüs, who had heard the question, rushed in and started listing all sorts of names he thought sounded cool.
"The Queen of Nozras. Strong Mom. The strongest woman. The great saint equal to the heavens. Super Mom. The champion…"
"The Black Viper."
Suddenly, Azraël interrupted his brother, who immediately fell silent.
However, the boy didn't seem offended. On the contrary, he smiled even more and threw his fist into the air, shouting his mother's new nickname:
"Yeah! The Black Viper!!"
The old woman seemed pleased, and very quickly, the new nickname spread throughout all of Nozras.
It wasn't difficult to change the nickname of a star like Rita. The whole country knew her, so all it took was to associate this new name with her previous ones and repeat it more often.
Very quickly… the Black Viper became her new name.