Book 12 Chapter 17

Side Story Part 2, Chapter 10

The Child Who Weaves Hearts (10)

"Lady Nen!"

"Lady Nen."

"Lady Nen?"

It was truly a long-awaited return home.

The family's employees greeted Nen as brightly as ever, and she couldn't find a way to express her gratitude.

She resolved that if their descendants wished, she would hire them on terms several times better than what the family had offered for generations.

"What if they want a different path?"

There was no need to refute Miria's words. It was something she had considered from the beginning.

"Of course, we should support them as much as possible."

Since they had contacted the in-laws, they decided to wait a bit for the welcome banquet. Most importantly, Aki, the most important one, hadn't arrived yet.

Nen took Mir and headed to the flower garden where she had previously picked tulips. Since Scalj was following, there would be nothing to worry about.

The house she returned to after a long time felt familiar even in its scent.

'How can such a faint scent be so vivid and familiar?'

Could it be that even scents can remain as memories for people?

Leaving his father and mother with Miria and Ellaham, Rein headed to his room for the first time in a long while.

From the bed to the desk and bookshelf, everything was tidied in its previous position.

'Before… when I woke up in that bed, there was only a vague sense of despair.'

Even when he tried to erase the longing for a severed past through his magical research, it wouldn't disappear.

Always, casting a shadow…

Even in joy, there was an echo of sadness, and daily life was intertwined with the daily life from beyond memory, unable to stand on its own.

"…"

He looked around his siblings' rooms in order.

Serri, now in her late 20s, held the title of professor at the Magic University <Delighten>.

She was essentially passing straight through the elite course that a second son or daughter, without the right of succession to a magic-wielding noble family like Aunt Ellin, could take.

'These guys must have suffered a lot because of me too. I was always so gloomy…'

Bran recently graduated from Magic University <Delighten> and was assigned to the Magic Alliance's Special Operations Department. This path was akin to an elite course as a Battle Mage.

'My siblings…'

Rein was bewildered by his own image, smiling contentedly while thinking of his siblings' growth.

Beyond that shadow, he remembered his fellow students from the school whom he had parted ways with 300 years ago, never to meet again.

There were three troublemakers whom Gizella, who was in charge of gorillas at the school, had named the 'Four Winds.'

Syu (Summer Wind).

Saruen (Autumn Wind).

Riki (Winter Wind).

They were crazy rascals who, despite being mage apprentices, would write 8x8 as 60…

Rin had liked those guys.

Rin couldn't be honest and only desperately clung to research, so he had never properly expressed it even once…

- Big Brother Rin!

- Brother Rin!

- Bro, Big Bro Rin!

Rin had truly liked those little kids who would follow him everywhere he went.

'Ah, this is dangerous…'

Rein pressed his right hand to his eyes for a while to calm his intensely hot eyelids.

'If only I could go back to those days… if I could hear their laughter again…'

He wasn't making extravagant claims about doing something he hadn't been able to do.

How wonderful it would be if that could happen.

Now, let alone their voices, even their faces were hazy.

Only memories described in written lines remained faintly in his mind.

'If only I could see and hear them again, just once, ahh.'

Rein headed to the training ground to soothe his violently pounding heart even a little.

The scent of memories from his diligent magic training somewhat calmed his heart.

Rein sat in the lotus position and began his magic meditation.

'A lifetime…'

Rein had never once violated the posture, method, or anything else that Dean Atlante had taught him.

Because he wanted to be like him.

Because he wanted to become that. And after the 5-year journey ended, he felt he might have become a little more like him.

'I wanted to show him that…'

Remembering the past, with 300 years acting as a barrier, still brought a wave of sadness, which was no different from before.

However, Rein's daily life had changed.

If he traced back the beginning of that change, truly, there had been countless encounters… but wasn't it the meeting with Aki?

- Ma Kiome!

The moment Aki broke out of her egg, the egg that enveloped Rein's world also shattered.

That egg was sorrow, tragedy, and solitude.

He should have broken out of such an egg, but unable to, lacking the strength to emerge, Rein's soul was suffocating in lament.

- Abu-oot!

- Ababbat!

- Aki has arrived!

At first, he thought his sense of duty towards his benefactor had made him temporarily forget that wall of sorrow, but it wasn't so.

'Joy…'

An immensely great joy, too profound to be expressed in words, had completely demolished the barrier of solitude that surrounded Rein.

'It's warm… can I feel warmth just from a memory?'

Rein thought so, but soon realized that this was not a mental illusion but an actual external stimulus touching his skin.

This warmth was truly familiar.

Was it not the warmth he had known since his first encounter with that noble being who had guarded the land where the light of civilization ended, in the far north, alone for a thousand years?

'Like the warmth of a bonfire in front of a stove in the middle of winter…'

Rein quietly opened his eyes.

His treasure, the most precious treasure in his entire life…

…was sitting in the lotus position in front of him, in the exact same posture.

Flames, spirits of fire, circled around, as if worshipping and praising.

'That name, Freedom (自由).'

The name Aki Rhea, given by his mother, who had secretly groaned under a bound fate her entire life, in a sorrowful wish.

Aki gave that freedom to Rein. She freed him from all bonds and yokes.

She gifted Rein, who had groaned, bound by the shackles of the past, the freedom to laugh freely when happy.

'The one who gave freedom to my life.'

Aki, feeling his gaze, opened her eyes and smiled brightly.

"Father, I'm here."

Father… the tremor that arose in his heart whenever Aki vocalized that word was always new, always brilliant.

Perhaps because his soul had once been bound with Alaquish's Dragon Orb, it was a tremor no one else could give.

Aki's growth was bewildering every time he saw it.

Now, her horns had fully grown, and in her dragon-human form, her dragon scale armor was almost perfectly formed.

Just like her mother, Alaquish.

"You've grown so much."

"Elder Grydaone also said I'm almost an adult now."

"Yes, come here."

Aki Rhea didn't fully stand up but approached on her knees.

Just like in her young childhood, when she was babbling…

Rein barely managed to sternly control his lips, which were almost splitting into a wide grin, and then immediately scolded her.

"You'll be scolded if anyone sees you, saying it harms the dignity of a True Dragon! Aren't you going to walk properly like a dragonkin? Go back and come again."

However, Aki didn't listen to Rein's words and came straight over, hugging him tightly, just like when she was little.

As Aki neared adulthood, her height in dragon-human form easily exceeded six feet, and it seemed she would grow even taller than Alaquish, who was seven feet tall with Pylas's Dragon Orb.

Rein wasn't short by human standards, but now the size difference made it impossible to tell who was the father and who was the daughter.

"Father, I really missed you."

His playful grumbling about her not listening to him completely melted away like snow at those words.

Only a laugh that sounded like a cry flowed out weakly.

Is this what love is?

To embrace and govern everything in this world.

That is the greatest emotion and a gift from the Creator God to humanity… love.

To realize and understand that is truth.

"You rascal… I missed you more."

Ah, me too…

If only I, on that day 300 years ago…

…could have returned after ending the turmoil and said these words to Dean, it truly, truly would have been wonderful…

'Although I hadn't made such tremendous external growth like Aki…'

He had definitely grown during those five years.

He had come to understand why the weak were weak, and he had learned the mission of those with power by observing his comrades.

He also realized that what he truly wanted just before the final battle was not to be the 'strongest mage,' but rather 'a mage like the Dean.'

'If only I could have explained that in words, ah, how wonderful it would have been.'

* * *

The mansion seemed boisterous, and indeed, several new guests had arrived.

It seemed Aki had picked up his in-laws on her way here. But that alone couldn't possibly explain the commotion.

The moment Rein reached the grand banquet hall, the most expansive place in the mansion, he immediately understood why.

"Oh, who do we have here? Isn't this the renowned Dragon Sage, the most successful person these days? I am Derif, a wyvern serving Lady Aki Rhea. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Pride seemed to be pulling off such a scam because revealing his true identity was awkward, but all the family members seemed to believe him.

After all, Aki Rhea was a Red True Dragon, so it wouldn't be surprising if she had a few wyverns under her command.

Aki Rhea, receiving Rein's bewildered gaze, gave an awkward laugh.

"She told me not to say anything until we met in person."

Pride said to Rein.

"Hey, aren't you going to pay up your guarantee? They say [The Exploded House] really exploded because of me. You should pay the guarantee. How can someone without a conscience be a Dragon Sage? Are all sages these days rotten?"

Rein strode purposefully towards that "Derif."

"Hey, you scoundrel, if you're a wyvern, you should be standing guard properly, not slacking off every day! Huh? Every day? You, give back the Dragon Orb right now. If you're just going to leech off it, hand it over immediately!"

What punished that finger-pointing instead was the being hidden in Pride's hair, none other than Pipi!

"Kkeuak!"

Pipi's beak attack!

Blood oozing from his finger!

"Fooling around, fooling around, Rein, fooling around."

Rein made a truly hurt expression.

"Too much. Nasty. Pipi's scary."

"Too much, nasty, Pipi has always been scary."

Miria, holding Ellaham, burst into laughter.

"Ah, ah-ha, ah-ha-ha, ha-ha-ha…"

Rein had also initially pointed playfully, but in truth, these two…

Meeting his comrades again after breaking through the vast barrier of 300 years, there was no way to explain the profound affection.

They were not mere comrades. Having gone to the very ends of the earth together until the end, they were closer than family.

During that time, those who witnessed Rin and Pride often said they were like biological siblings.

It was true; Rin and Pride seemed to bicker more than anyone, but they cherished each other more than anyone.

In other words, at this very moment, his true family had gathered.

The absence of just one person, Kiez, was felt… though felt too greatly…

'No.'

In that moment, Rein, once again, clutched his pounding heart at an inexplicable emptiness in his soul.

'Was it really just Kiez?'

One person…

As if someone else should be there…

He had such a vague feeling…