Page 103

Early Evening - Late Spring : Kingdom of Kaelallan

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*tap-tap-tap* It was only a couple hours after Martha told me dinner would be a while that Father came to get me from the shelter.

I was a bit disappointed by his timing since Ilios, and I were in the middle of roughhousing when he came down, but at the same time, I was excited to start heading home. -I could really go for a juicy field bison right about now…-

Finally coming up to one of the doors to the dining room, Father didn't waste any time on formality and walked in. *Click*

Everyone in the room looked over when they heard the lock release.

But to my surprise, everyone at the table was a familiar face, with everyone in Father's adventuring group and Lucy and Viviana present. It was honestly quite lovely seeing everyone together.

"He's finally here!" Sarah cheered with a half-empty glass of wine like we were celebrities.

-How much has she drank already?- But as I was shooting Sarah a judgmental look, Lewis got up from his seat.

"Took you long enough." He quickly walked over and gave Father a hug before looking over at me with a wide smile. "It seems like the talk of the town has changed some since I last saw him."

"Haha, just a few changes." I gave a slightly forced chuckle before averting my eyes.

Then, likely noticing I didn't want to talk about it, Oliver got up and motioned Father and I to the two open seats. "Well, how about you two take a seat so we can talk a little more comfortably. We got a spot for Ilios to lay next to you as well, Vasilias."

Glancing at the seats as we rounded the table, I saw a white cushion lying next to one of the seats. "Oh." -Wow, that's really considerate of them.- "Thanks for that!" Quickly pulling out my chair and sitting down, I motioned Ilios over onto the cushion.

"Huff!" He gave a muffled bark as he walked up with a happy trot and plopped himself on the cushion.

-I should make a cushion like this for him at home…- Idly looking back up as I thought to myself, I noticed Viviana staring at me in a trance. "How are you doing, Viviana? Do you need something?"

Her face turned red instantly. "N-no, I just thought that your dog was really smart."

"Of course he is! Even among Fenrir, his intelligence is unrivaled." Ilios held his head high with a smile as I complimented him.

My statement made Viviana's eyes go wide though. "F-f-fenrir?! You mean one of those huge scary wolves?!"

"They're not all scary." I unknowingly started petting Ilios after being unable to resist his adorableness as I spoke. "Just don't walk up to one assuming it will be nice."

Hearing her suddenly go quiet, I finally noticed that Ilios moved some of his aura onto Viviana, making her fall into a trance and stare at him. -His intelligence still catches me by surprise sometimes…-

Continuing to pet him, I tapped him with my aura and got him to pull his off Viviana. "See? Nothing to be scared of."

She snapped out of the trance immediately. "R-right! Sorry for staring so much..."

"Haha, you're fine. So how has everyone else been?" Starting the conversation for the night, everyone got the chance to talk about how their days were before finally devolving into reminiscing over the past and telling stories. But I didn't mind it.

Eventually, after much discussion, dinner and desserts came out until everyone had eaten their fill.

But just like how the food was unlimited, so was the alcohol.

This didn't affect Helen or Oliver much since they had to go right back to work after eating, nor Lewis since he had alcohol tolerance comparable to Father, but Sarah got absolutely hammered.

Thankfully, Lucy and Viviana had already left to go outside by the time it got really bad, but I ended up catching the brunt of her drunken flirtatiousness. -At least Lucy and Viviana aren't here to see such a sorry sight…-

But eventually, after several more drinks and even more conversation, the conversation started winding down to a close.

Maids started slowly funneling into the room to clean things up as Oliver set down his small glass of liquor and looked at Father. "So you're still leaving tonight?"

"Yeah, unless Vasilias has other plans." Father glanced at me for confirmation.

"I want to leave at some point tonight since I'd rather fly at night, and I think I have everything I need to do wrapped up already."

Sarah, who laid her face on the table, turned and glanced at me with an exhausted look. "How long is the flight?"

"If I want to get there fast, I could do less than an hour, but I'd like to take my time tonight."

"Hm? Why?"

"I love space, and there should be a full moon tonight, so I'd like to take my time to enjoy it during the flight."

"Space?"

"Space is what gives the night sky its beauty. All the tiny lights that litter the sky at night are distant stars or galaxies floating around in the endless abyss known as space." A smile came to my face as I stopped myself before I got carried away.

Sarah didn't understand any of it anyway. "I'm too drunk to understand what you just said..."

-I'd honestly be surprised if you understood that sober…- "Maybe I'll bring you up to get a better look at it one night-"

"Make that a promise." Her determined look caught me by surprise.

"A..alright… I'll take you on a little flight at some point in the future, then." I reluctantly agreed since I was too worried about what she'd do if I rejected her. -She's so drunk she will probably forget it anyway.-

Regardless of my thought though, the moment she heard me agree, an excited smile crept onto her face. "Hehe~..."

"Haah…" Letting out a disappointed sigh, Father finally stood up. "Well, I think that's our signal."

"Haha, right. You'll come to revisit us before 10 years pass this time, right?" Oliver looked over at Father with a taunting smile.

"Haha, of course. I'll try to find time to visit once a year." Walking to everyone around the table, Father gave them each a hug whilst saying his goodbyes.

"Thanks for everything recently, everyone. You all made it a truly.. unique experience." My smile turned warm as everyone gave their goodbyes.

"I'm glad you enjoyed your time here, Vasilias. In any case, sorry about not being able to walk you to the gate..." Helen motioned toward Sarah, who had fallen asleep and was drooling on the table.

"Haha, it's alright, don't worry about it."

There was a short pause before Father gave his final farewell as well. "Well, we're heading out. Thank you again for taking care of us while we were here."

Helen's smile quickly turned warm. "Of course. Vasilias, please think of Kaelallan as a second home. You are always welcome here."

"Haha, alright. I'll be sure to visit whenever I get the chance."

"Well, have a safe flight! Tell Zachari we said hi!" Oliver gave a light wave as we turned to the door.

"We will! Be careful not to overwork yourselves!" *Click*

Finally leaving the dining room and, subsequently, the palace, I spent some time reminiscing about everything that happened on the trip while enjoying the cool evening breeze.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at the same clearing we initially landed in when we came here.

*flash* Immediately changing to my dragon form, I let Father into my paw. "Well, shall we?" A childish excitement filled me as I helped Father get situated, but once he got comfortable and tapped his lap for Ilios to sit with him, Ilios didn't budge.

"Come on, Ilios." *tap-tap* Thinking he wasn't understanding, Father called out to him, but he just sat there and looked up at me.

"Haha, he's going to ride on my back, Father."

Almost immediately, Father gave me a sad look like he was just betrayed before reluctantly mumbling to himself. "Alright..."

After another moment, Ilios changed to his full size, hopped on my back, and finally got comfortable.

Making sure my mana held him somewhat securely, I finally got ready to fly. "I'll be a bit easier on the acceleration this time; just remember to tap on me if you need something, Father."

Seeing him reluctantly nod in understanding, I spread out my wings and used a mix of flapping and thruster magic to lift us off the ground smoothly.

Although it took a while since I was being easy on the thrusters, eventually, we got above the clouds, where I started leveling out and speeding up.

After once again checking to make sure Father and Ilios were doing alright, I finally looked up toward the sky myself.

Just as I had expected, the full moon shone brightly, with the colors of the countless minerals on its surface being clearly visible. -This planet's moon is.. really stunning...-

Although the moon was similar to earth's in size, it had far more texture and variation in colors.

Tall mountains of iron and copper, low valleys carved by a reflective brown liquid, and massive ocean-like reservoirs that filled several of the craters were sights I had grown accustomed to over the years, but this time, something else caught my eye.

One of the few larger craters on the moon simply looked.. too perfect. Too circular and uniform.

The crater had huge cracks starting from the epicenter, but they all looked like they were there for a purpose and weren't simply random, massive cracks in the moon's surface.

But sadly, even after looking at it for well over an hour, I couldn't quite make out anything decisive. -I guess I can only wait for my vision to improve to get a better look at it…-

After somehow suppressing my ever-growing curiosity about the moon, I spent the rest of the flight looking up into other parts of the sky to enjoy the stunning view. -This will never get old…-

As I had grown since I reincarnated, my eyes got significantly better, not just with detail but with color as well. Before I knew it, I could see more vibrant, indescribable colors that painted the countless nebulas, galaxies, and star formations that littered the night sky.

-It's truly a beautiful spectacle...- Before I knew it, I had completely lost track of time only to have Father eventually tap my paw and point toward the ground.

-Huh? Oh!- It was a pleasant surprise, to say the least.

Slowly turning to descend with a corkscrew dive, I gently used thrusters to slow our descent.

By the time we got close to the ground, I was simply gliding, making the landing nice and gentle.

*Fwoosh* *Fwoosh* *Fwoosh-Thump*

Finally landing, Father hastily jumped out of my paw and changed to his dragon form.

But he seemed nervous as he walked up to the doors of the cave and gently opened them.

*Woooosh* A strong breeze of freezing air blew out of the hallway the second there was a crack in the door.

"How.. uh.. are you holding up?" Father nervously looked down the hall at Mother.

But she just slowly turned her head and looked him in the eye. "You're sleeping outside."

"Haah... I figured you were going to say that..." Not even taking time to question her, he turned around and walked away with his head held low like a defeated man.

-Did they fight or something?- I gave father a confused look as he walked by, but Mother called out to me before I could get too distracted.

"Welcome home, sweetie!"

With a warm, childish smile coming to my face, I turned back around to see her familiar motherly smile, but I couldn't help but notice that she looked unusual. -She looks exhausted...-

Quickly making my way into the hall, I walked over and gave Mother a long hug before eventually laying down and letting her rest her head on me.

"Hey, Ilios… How have you been?"

Ilios glanced farther down the hall and saw Krystallo sleeping soundly before responding with a muffled bark. "Huff!"

"Haha, that's good to hear." She slowly turned to look at me as her expression became worried. "So... What happened?"

-Father must have told her something…- "Well, after a uh.. bad accident.. I happened to trigger and have another dragon sleep."

Mother looked at me like I had gone insane though. "H..how… Wait, just.. start from the beginning…"

Seeing her look of concern, I quickly tried coming up with a way to ease her into what had happened. "So Kaelallan had an heirloom that was just a massive monster core."

"Okay? What about it?" Her worry only grew the more I talked.

"Well, after following through with my part of a deal we made, I ate it and uh.. my uh…" -How do I put this without making her worried.- "My reserve may have.. exploded…"

The air stopped moving instantly as I reluctantly looked over to see Mother staring at me with wide eyes. -Uh oh…-

Unable to even consider saying anything more, I simply laid there and braced myself for the worst.

But instead of panicking or yelling at me, she just let out a deep sigh. "Hoooh…"

Thinking I was safe, I reluctantly opened my eyes but had a tail come crashing down onto my head. *THUMP* -Ow.. there it is…- Slowly looking back up at her, I saw her wearing a slightly angered expression.

"For how smart you are, I thought you would have at least remembered me telling you that could happen."

Like an epiphany, the memory of her explaining how my reserve could be destroyed suddenly surfaced in my mind. -Ah… I forgot about that…- “S..sorry, Mother…”

"Haah… I'm just glad you're home, alive and healthy." She paused as she gently rubbed her cheek against mine. "In any case, I can still feel your aura, so what happened with your reserve? Did it somehow repair itself?"

Feeling warmth fill my chest, I responded quickly and honestly. "I'm not entirely sure, but I think it was completely destroyed before it reformed itself to make a new one. My new reserve is in my abdomen."

Had I said that to anyone else, I would have been called insane, but Mother didn't even question me. "So that's why your aura is a bit weaker than before you left…" She immediately fell into contemplation, but I was quick to correct her.

"N..no... My aura seeming smaller isn't because of that." I stopped talking for a moment to think of how to explain it. "To put it simply, my new reserve gave me the ability to control how much aura I exude.. at least to a certain extent."

A gleam formed in her eyes immediately. "How fascinating! So how much would you naturally exude?"

"Uh..." I quickly glanced back toward Krystallo, lying behind the pile of treasure. "Do you mind coming outside for it?"

"Hoh? It's that much, huh?" With an excited look, she slowly stood up and stretched.

"Ilios, stay here and watch Krystallo for us. If something happens, get our attention somehow. We will be right outside."

"Huff." Giving a determined woof, he quickly walked over and sat by Krystallo.

-I doubt his aura is enough to do anything…-

Quickly walking outside and closing the door behind us, I turned to see Mother wearing an eager smile. "Alright, now show your mother how much you've grown." She immediately flexed her legs like I was going to pressure her.

"Wait, you want me to pressure you with it?"

"Of course! I wouldn't be able to really understand how much it was if you just released it into the air."

-Well.. I guess she has a point…- "If that's the case, you might want to brace yourself more than that…"

Taking my word seriously, she flexed her legs and took a wide stance.

"Haah…" -She should be able to handle it, right?- "Well, here I go…"

*vwooOooOOOMMM* Like a volcano of mana, the air around me turned to a bright and beautiful blue before flowing over to Mother.

A smile crept onto Mother's face as she saw it coming toward her like a tidal wave.

*crunch-CRUNCH-VWOOOMM* The ground beneath her paws shattered like brittle sandstone under immense pressure, and her head lowered toward the ground as she struggled to keep it held high.

*VWOOooOooom* I immediately pulled my aura off her after noticing she was struggling. "S-sorry!" I immediately darted over to support her, but instead of collapsing like I anticipated, she hopped up with a pure smile on her face.

"WOOHOO! I haven't felt that kind of rush in years!"

"Hooh…" I let out a breath of relief, seeing that she was okay.

*FWOOSH* She darted up to me instantly before throwing her neck around mine. "To think my son would get this strong so quickly!" She looked like she was about to cry. "I don't know what I did to deserve such a strong son, but thank you!"

In that instant, it felt like an unfathomable weight was lifted off my soul.

The countless thoughts racing through my mind were silenced, leaving only the incredible warmth of Mother's embrace to fill the void.

My mind had become silent, with the exception of one thought. -What did I do to deserve a mother like this…- With a warm smile, I finally lowered my head and took my time to truly enjoy the moment. "Th..thank you, Mother…"