---
Since it was almost nightfall, customers who weren't members of my party had started trickling in.
Conversely, my party members had thinned out.
I sat at one of the tables, drinking endlessly.
My bad mood must have been palpable.
Nobody came near.
"Hey, been looking for you!"
A voice called out just as I'd thought that.
I looked up to see a monkey-faced man grinning at me.
It had been a year since I'd seen that face.
"
"Whoa, whoa, what's with you? Still as cheerful as ever, I see."
"Obviously."
I clicked my tongue and touched my cheek.
The pain still lingered.
Where
I'd tried to save face, but maybe I should've had a healer cast a healing spell on it.
Damn that Rudeus.
What was all that about "The
If he had that much free time, he could've done some searching, at least.
Instead, he went on and on about how to eat a King Tortoise.
What was that garbage about "If I hadn't thought of making a clay pot with earth magic, I would've had to keep eating that awful-tasting grilled meat for a whole year"?
If he'd had time to look for ingredients, he could've done something else!
Shit.
And on top of that, he accused me of cheating?
The nerve.
Since teleporting here, I hadn't even thought about another woman.
And he had the audacity to blame me when he hadn't done a damn thing himself.
The nerve.
What was all that about not knowing?
If you'd properly researched the Demon Continent, you might have been reunited with
The nerve.
"Heh heh, judging by that look, you still haven't met him yet."
Geese seemed to be in a good mood about something.
He was grinning away while ordering something.
Probably booze.
This guy was an even bigger drinker than Tarhand of the Coalminers.
"Paul. You should show up at the adventurer's guild tomorrow."
"Why?"
"You'll meet someone interesting."
Someone interesting.
Someone who would fix my foul mood.
The reason Geese showed his face today.
And the person I'd met earlier today.
Comparing all three, the answer came naturally.
"Rudeus?"
When I asked, the monkey-faced man pouted and scratched his head.
"Whaaat? You already knew?"
"I met him."
"And yet you don't look too happy about it. Did you have a fight or something?"
A fight.
Well, I guess you could call it a fight.
It wasn't much of a fight, though...
Damn it, just thinking about it made me angry all over again.
"What happened, Paul? Tell me about it."
Geese, with that affable face of his, moved his chair next to mine.
This guy had always been good at listening to other people's troubles.
It seemed he was going out of his way to be nosy again this time.
"Yeah, listen to this..."
And so I told Geese about what had happened.
How happy I'd been to see him.
But how our conversation hadn't clicked, and I'd asked Rudeus how he'd been doing.
And how Rudeus had started talking about his journey with such excitement.
How I'd had to sit through a long, boring string of boastful stories.
How I'd pointed out that he could've been doing something more useful than just bragging.
How he'd snapped at me.
How he'd gotten defensive when I brought up the women.
How we'd fought and I'd lost badly.
Geese nodded along at each part, saying "uh-huh" and "ah, I see" and "right, right."
He listened like that, and then at the end he said: "Say, aren't you expecting too much from your son?"
"...Huh?"
I heard myself make a stupid sound.
Expecting too much?
From whom?
From what?
"Me? Expecting things from Rudy?"
"Come on, think about it."
Seeing me flustered, Geese pressed on without missing a beat.
"He really is amazing. I've never seen anyone cast magic without incantation.
When I heard he'd single-handedly defeated dozens of monsters, yeah, that sent chills down my spine.
Rudeus is the kind of genius you see once in a hundred years."
That's right. Rudy is a genius.
He's a genius.
A real genius.
He could do anything since he was a kid.
For a while, I thought maybe he had some weak spots after all, but even
Philip, of the man who'd bashed me so thoroughly.
"Yeah, you're right. He's amazing. I mean, by the time he was five..."
"But he's still a kid."
I was cut off sharply and fell silent.
"Rudeus is still an eleven-year-old kid."
Geese repeated, savoring the words.
"You left home when you were twelve, right?"
"Yeah..."
"You always used to say that anyone under twelve was just a brat, remember?"
"So what? What's your point?"
Rudy was already stronger than me.
Sure, I'd been drinking today, but even factoring that in, he'd gotten stronger.
I'd been drunk, but I'd been dead serious.
I'd used the North God Style's "Four Legs Form" and even the Sword God Style's "Silent Strike" — techniques I didn't want to use.
And all I managed to do was cut the string on the panties he was wearing as a headband.
Rudeus hadn't been serious at all.
The proof was that all the party members had gotten off with minor injuries.
He'd fought me without holding back, then beat me while holding back himself.
I didn't know how much stronger he'd gotten during our time apart.
But Rudeus had been smarter than me even when he was seven.
His fighting skills were better than mine.
His brain was better than mine.
So why wouldn't he be capable of more than me?
What did age matter?
"Paul, what were you doing when you were eleven?"
"What do you mean..."
I'd been learning swordplay at home.
Every single day, getting yelled at by my old man.
Every move I made, every breath I took, he'd criticize and hit me.
"Could that version of you have survived on the Demon Continent?"
"Ha! Geese, that's a completely different premise.
Rudy had a powerful demon race warrior guarding him.
He speaks the human tongue, the demon god tongue, even the beast god tongue.
He can take on A-rank monsters by himself.
He had a monster like that as his bodyguard.
Even I could cross the Demon Continent with that kind of protection."
"No, you couldn't. You couldn't do it. Absolutely not. Even the current you couldn't go to the Demon Continent and come back alone."
I flinched at his certainty.
Geese, as always, just kept grinning.
His smile was just as annoying as ever.
"Ha! Then all the more reason! He did something I can't. He's a genius. Rudeus is a genius! My son is a genius! He's a full-fledged adult now. There's nothing left for me to say. Is it wrong to expect work commensurate with someone's abilities? Huh, Geese, am I wrong?"
"You're wrong. You're always wrong."
Geese grinned as he gulped down the beer that had just been brought over.
"Ah, that's good. You really can't get this stuff in the Great Forest."
"Geese!"
"I know, I know, stop nagging."
Geese slammed down his wooden mug.
And then, suddenly, his tone turned serious.
"Paul. You've never been to the Demon Continent, have you?"
"...What does that have to do with anything?"
I'd never been to the Demon Continent.
Sure, I'd heard stories from people.
Rumors said it was a dangerous land.
Monsters jumped out if you walked down the road, and you had to eat monsters to survive.
But if it was just a matter of having lots of monsters, that could be managed.
"As you know, I'm originally from the Demon Continent.
And in my honest opinion, the Demon Continent is no joke."
"Huh, I don't think you've ever told me about that. What's so bad about it?"
"First, there are no proper roads. There are paths, but there's nothing like the safe routes they talk about on the Millis or Central Continents — routes with few monsters.
No matter where you walk, C-rank or higher monsters will attack you."
I'd heard there were a lot of monsters, but C-rank?
On the
They tended to travel in groups or had special abilities.
"That's way too many, don't you think?"
"No, I'm telling the truth. I'm not lying about a single thing.
The Demon Continent is just like that. There are simply too many monsters."
Geese's eyes were dead serious.
But this guy could lie with that exact same expression without batting an eye.
I wasn't going to fall for it.
"And into that kind of place, a child with no real combat experience gets thrown — however talented they may be."
"...Yeah."
No combat experience — he was talking about Rudy.
Now that he mentioned it, I'd never heard stories about Rudeus fighting anyone.
I'd heard he'd handled some kidnappers well, and that if
I didn't know any swordsman better than Ruijerd.
If Rudeus could keep him at a distance, there weren't a thousand people in the world who could beat him.
So the lack of combat experience was irrelevant.
Even that Alexander R. Kalman, the second North God, had no combat experience before his first real fight — and he cut down a Sword Emperor.
"And then an adult shows up offering to help. A demon. And a strong one at that. A Superd. You know about them. That Superd."
"Yeah."
The Superd tribe.
I was honestly skeptical about that.
I'd heard there were hardly any Superd left on the Demon Continent.
"A figure reaching out a hand when you don't know left from right.
Someone who helps you when you're at your weakest.
But the Superd are scary.
You never know what they'll do if you refuse them.
Of course you'd take that hand."
"...Yeah, I suppose so."
"And while being helped, the clever Rudeus starts to think.
'What exactly is this person's goal?'"
That was true.
Rudeus would think that.
I wouldn't have caught on, but he was sharp about things like that.
Even when he'd helped Lilia, he'd shown a shrewdness you wouldn't expect from a child.
"But you can't just figure out what someone's after."
Right.
That's why guys like Geese were still alive.
"So while he's being helped now, he might eventually be cut loose.
And that's when Rudeus thinks — I should curry favor so I can't be discarded."
"What's that? Favor? Does that actually work?"
"Don't make fun. If 'favor' doesn't sound right, call it appealing to his emotions, building a sense of camaraderie — something like that."
Building camaraderie.
I see.
That made Rudy's actions make sense.
Sucking up to the demon who was protecting him, while also honing his own skills just in case.
It was the logical choice.
Rudeus was choosing the safest path possible.
Hmph, not bad. Way to go.
"Tch, but if he could think that far ahead, why couldn't he do any better than that?"
I muttered, and Geese held up his fingers, then folded them one by one.
"First time in a new land. First adventure.
No matter how smart he is, there's a ton he doesn't know.
To avoid getting tricked, he has to learn things himself too.
On top of that, he has to watch out for a demon who might betray him at any moment, while protecting a younger girl right behind him..."
Geese spoke in a flat tone as he counted off each point on his fingers.
And then, finally, he wrapped it up: "Add to that finding other people who got teleported, and that makes him a superhuman. A straight-up superhuman.
It wouldn't be weird to count him among the Seven Great Powers."
The Seven Great Powers.
Haven't heard that name in a while.
There was a time when I'd wanted to be famous enough to be counted among them.
Setting aside a father's bias, I thought Rudy had the ability to make it.
"He's clearly overworked.
No matter how much of a genius Rudeus is, humans have limits."
"If he was at his absolute limit, why was he talking about his adventure so cheerfully? That looked like some noble kid going on a field trip to the labyrinth, playing around in the shallow levels and coming back!"
If Rudeus had truly been struggling, he wouldn't have talked like that.
The hard parts of the journey. The painful parts.
He would have talked about those.
But Rudeus hadn't mentioned any of that.
"Well, that's probably because he didn't want you to worry."
"...Huh?"
I made a dumb sound again.
"Why would he worry about me? Because I'm a lousy father?"
"Exactly. Because you're a lousy father."
"Tch. Yeah, that's right. I'm a pathetic loser who drowns his problems in booze. I'm sure I looked real pathetic in a genius's eyes."
"Even without the genius part, you look pretty pathetic right now, Paul."
Geese sighed.
"I'm telling you this because you can't see your own face, but you look terrible right now?"
"A face that invites sympathy from my own son?"
"Yeah. With the current you, I think you could reconcile without a fight."
He added that it was because I looked so pathetic he had nothing more to say.
I touched my face.
The stubble I hadn't shaved in days crunched under my fingers.
"Hey Paul, let me say this one more time."
Geese pressed the point.
"You're expecting too much from your son."
What was so wrong about expecting things?
Rudy had done everything right since the day he was born.
I'd just tried to play the father and messed things up.
Rudy didn't need me.
"Hey, Paul. Why can't you just be happy about the reunion?
What does it matter what kind of journey Rudeus had?
What if he'd been traveling carefree and leisurely?
What if he'd been cozying up with women the whole time?
You're both healthy and you found each other. Be happy about that first."
"..."
That was right.
I must have been happy at first too.
"Or what, did you want to meet a son with missing body parts and empty eyes?
There was a very real chance you'd be reuniting with a corpse, you know?
Well, on the Demon Continent, there wouldn't even be a body left."
Rudy, dead?
After seeing that energetic kid, it felt like an absurd notion.
But just a few days ago, hadn't I been imagining exactly that, sinking into depression?
"Awww, poor thing.
He went through so much traveling all this way.
And the father he finally reunites with is a booze-soaked waste of space.
If I were him, I'd cut ties too."
Tch, putting on a dramatic voice like that.
"I get it, Geese. What you're saying makes sense. But there's one thing I don't understand."
"What's that?"
"Why didn't Rudy know about
He should have left word at Zant Port."
Geese started to say "Well," then made a bitter face.
That was the face he made when he was hiding something.
"Guess he just had bad luck and couldn't find it."
"...Geese, where did you find Rudy?
You didn't find him at Zant Port, did you?"
I didn't know where Geese had been for the past year.
But Rudeus had come from the north.
The only town big enough up north where Geese could operate was Zant Port.
Zant Port definitely had a message left there.
And there should have been a party member stationed there, to gather information when someone crossed over from the Demon Continent.
If you were an adventurer, there was no reason not to visit the adventurer's guild.
"I met Rudeus at the Doldia village.
I was shocked, let me tell you. He'd been accused of attacking the Sacred Beast, locked up naked in a jail cell."
"Beast race, naked, in jail... you're kidding."
I'd heard about this from
For the Doldia, being stripped naked, locked in a cage, chained up, doused with cold water — these were the ultimate humiliations.
They rarely did it to others, and if it was done to them, they remembered it forever.
I'd once jokingly splashed water on Ghislaine and she'd glared at me with genuine fury.
"S-so what happened?"
"What, Rudeus didn't tell you?"
"All I heard was that he'd traveled through the Demon Continent."
Right, why hadn't I heard about why he hadn't seen the message at Zant Port?
I hadn't asked about the most important part.
Why not...
Ah. Because I hadn't asked.
Damn it.
Why did I always have to be so damn impatient?
Calm down.
Rudy was exceptional.
Exceptional, yet he hadn't gotten the information.
I needed to think about this more calmly.
If he'd gone as far as Zant Port, the message would've reached his ears whether he liked it or not.
That meant something had happened at Zant Port.
Something that landed him in Doldia jail.
A big incident?
In another two or three days, a party member would bring back information, but had something happened?
"Well, I don't know the details myself, but when I was at the Millerdet village in the Great Forest, I heard a rumor that a human child had been captured in the Doldia village."
"Huh? Wait — where were you just now?"
Millerdet?
They were a type of beast race, weren't they?
The ones with rabbit-like ears.
"The Millerdet village. It's a decent-sized settlement, since that's where the tribal chief is —"
Geese's explanation was long and tedious.
Honestly, it was the kind of thing where I wanted to say "enough already" halfway through.
But today, once again, I'd failed to hear Rudeus's story to the end, missing the important parts.
Even I, who always made the same mistakes, wasn't going to repeat it twice in one day.
The story wrapped up.
Putting it all together — "Geese, so you'd been going around telling all the tribes in the Great Forest to send any lost humans to Millis?"
"Yeah. Heh heh, you can thank me for that."
"I couldn't thank you enough..."
I'd occasionally had refugees come to me from the Great Forest. So that was the mechanism behind it...
"Well, enough about that."
"...Yeah."
I'd hear the details later, but for now, let it go.
"When I heard it was a human child, I perked right up.
Made a beeline for the Doldia village.
Not to brag, but I know people everywhere.
I've got contacts all over the Doldia village.
I asked one of them — a warrior I'm close with — to arrange for me to be put in the same cell."
"Wait, why did you need to go in?"
"For an escape plan, if things went sideways.
Beast race jails are easier to break out of from the inside."
I knew Geese's jailbreaking skills firsthand.
He was the kind of guy who'd get caught cheating and walk out looking nonchalant.
"And so. I expected the captured human child to be crying in despair, but no — pfft."
"What? What was going on?"
"He was lying there naked, totally relaxed, going 'Welcome. To the end of your life.' Can you believe that?
I didn't even know how to respond!"
Geese cackled.
"This isn't a laughing matter."
"Sure it is.
I knew right away.
This kid was Paul's son."
What was so funny about that?
More to the point, what part of that was enough to confirm he was my son?
"He's just like the old you.
That brazen attitude even with a stranger, that unnecessary arrogance, trying to hit on beast race women and getting told 'You smell like you're in heat' — and still ogling them with lewd eyes!"
Geese found something hilarious about that and cackled again.
Having my past dug up made my spine itch.
"Well, it took a little more time to be sure."
Geese said that and drained his beer.
"So anyway, that's why.
It's not his fault he didn't know about the information.
He told me he never stopped at Zant Port."
"Hm? Wait, Geese — you were in the same cell as him, right?"
If he explained, then...
"There might be bad blood between father and son, but do me a favor and make up, yeah?"
Geese said that in a rush, then stood up.
"Hey, wait — we're not done talking —"
"Oh, right.
Almost forgot, but it looks like
I heard the rumor about an elf woman who went around sleeping with every man in Zant Port, so it's gotta be them."
"Elinalise?"
I thought she hated me more than anyone...
"Heh heh, for all their talk, they don't actually hate you that much."
With that parting shot, Geese walked out of the tavern.
Of course, he didn't pay.
That was just how he was.
Well, I'd let it go today.
I'd cover for him.
After all those drinks, I should call it a night too.
"Don't drink any more. Tomorrow, show up at Dawn Light Pavilion sober. Got it?"
Geese came back and said that.
"I know!"
Getting lectured like that, I sighed and set down my cup.
Come to think of it, I'd been drinking too much lately.
Why was I running away from all this?
There was still so much to do.
"Um... Paul, are you done talking?"
While I was thinking that, I noticed a woman cowering apologetically.
Who was that?
I squinted at her face through my drunken haze.
It was one of my party members, Vela.
"Heh, what's this? You're looking awfully subdued today."
"Yeah, well..."
Vela nodded vaguely and sat down in the seat Geese had just vacated.
Today, she wasn't dressed in her usual provocative, attention-grabbing outfit.
She looked like any ordinary, plain town girl.
"I was thinking maybe the fight earlier was my fault."
"Your fault? Why?"
"Well, it's just that... because I look like this... your, um, your son might have gotten the wrong idea..."
"It's got nothing to do with you. He was probably just looking at your enormous chest and jumping to conclusions."
Vela always dressed revealingly for a reason.
She'd once been an ordinary adventurer, but when the teleportation hit, she'd been sent to the
Most people would have shut down after something that horrific, but she'd gotten through it with incredible mental strength.
Not everyone had made it through, though.
Vela's sister, Shera, was one of them.
That girl still trembled uncontrollably whenever she caught a man's gaze.
And she wasn't the only one among the party members. There were others.
Vela dressed the way she did to draw men's eyes toward herself, shielding those girls from unwanted attention.
She was also excellent at caring for other women who'd been through similar ordeals.
For someone like me, who couldn't understand what a raped woman felt, she was an indispensable subordinate.
Of course, there was nothing physical between us.
As if there could be.
"If you understand, then go on."
"...Yes."
Vela slunk back to where the other women were gathered.
"Good grief..."
Taking a proper look around, I noticed a lot of worried eyes glancing my way.
"Stop looking at me like that! We'll make up tomorrow!"
I said that as my final word and stood up.
--- Back in the room,
I took the water pitcher from the table and poured a cup of water.
Gulped it down.
The lukewarm water sank into my churning stomach.
My sobriety was slowly returning.
I'd always been the type who sobered up easily.
I could get wasted on sheer volume, but it never lasted long.
As I felt my head gradually clearing, I gently stroked Norn's hair as she slept, curled around her blanket.
Poor kid.
She must have things she wanted to say to a father like this, but she behaved herself without a single complaint.
If Norn died, I couldn't go on living.
"Mmm... Daddy..."
Norn stirred.
She wasn't awake. Just talking in her sleep.
She was an ordinary child.
Unlike Rudy.
I had to protect her...
"..."
If Rudy had been ordinary.
Rudy would have been sleeping here too.
He wouldn't have gone to a tutor. He would have stayed at the family home.
And when the teleportation happened, he might have grabbed the hem of my clothes and said, "Let me hold Norn too."
An ordinary Rudy.
An ordinary eleven-year-old Rudy.
I should have been protecting him as someone to cherish, like this...
My legs trembled.
I finally understood why Geese had said "he's an eleven-year-old kid."
That was right.
Whether he was ordinary or a genius — what was the difference?
Weren't they the same?
If Norn had been a genius, would I have said the same things to her?
To Norn, who knew nothing, who'd been traveling in blissful ignorance?
Would I have said those things to her?
"I expected so much more from you..."
The thought kept me from sleeping.
I didn't want to lie down.
I went outside the inn and dumped a bucket of fire-safety water over my head.
I thought about the look on Rudy's face when he'd left the tavern, and I threw up.
Who was it that had given Rudy that look?
The barrel of water reflected the face of a fool.
The face of a man who was the most unfit father in the world.
"Heh... I might really be beyond saving..."
If I were Rudy, I'd cut ties with a man like this.
--- Rudeus's Perspective --- The next morning.
I was eating breakfast in a somewhat refreshed mood.
The location was the tavern next to the inn.
The food in Millis was actually quite good.
The further we traveled from the Great Forest, the better the meals got.
Today's breakfast was freshly baked bread, a clear, refreshing soup, a fresh vegetable salad, and thick-cut bacon.
I hadn't gotten dessert last night, but apparently, dinner came with one.
It was a sweet jelly that was popular with young adventurers, the kind that appeared in those trendy poems about young mage adventurers.
I'd look forward to that.
Eating.
It was a happy thing.
When you were hungry, you got irritable.
When you got irritable, you lost your appetite.
When you lost your appetite, you got hungry.
A perfect vicious cycle.
Even an android would get cranky.
"...Welcome."
I was thinking about all this, drinking a coffee-like beverage after my meal, when the tavern owner glanced toward the entrance.
A gaunt, pale-faced man was standing there.
The moment I saw that face, I visibly flinched.
The man scanned the room, spotted me, and memories of yesterday's emotions surged up inside me.
Without a word being exchanged, I naturally averted my gaze.
"..."
Seeing me like this, the two people sitting with me apparently figured out who it was right away.
Ruijerd's brow furrowed, and
"Who are you?"
The man was walking toward us.
Eris planted herself in front of him.
Arms crossed, feet shoulder-width apart, chin jutted upward.
She glared up at the man — who stood a full two heads taller — with an imperious air.
"Paul Greyrat... that man's father."
"I know that!"
As I stared at Eris's back, a voice came from above.
It was a wry, self-deprecating voice.
"What's this, Rudy? Hiding behind a woman? Some stud you are."
That voice. That tone.
I felt a small wave of relief.
Right. That was how the old Paul used to tease me.
How nostalgic.
I decided to take this attitude as Paul's way of making amends.
He'd come all the way to the tavern first thing in the morning.
The least I could do was hear him out.
"Rudeus isn't hiding behind me!
I'm the one shielding Rudeus!
From his no-good father!"
Eris's fists were trembling, and she looked like she might throw a punch at Paul's jaw at any second.
I signaled to Ruijerd with my eyes.
He seemed to catch on, because he grabbed Eris by the scruff of her neck and lifted her up.
"Hey! Ruijerd! Let go of me!"
"Leave them alone."
"You saw what Rudeus was like yesterday!
That man is no father!"
"Tell him that. That's what fathers are."
Saying that, he started to leave with Eris.
As Ruijerd passed by Paul, he murmured: "You have your reasons, I'm sure, but those reasons only matter while your son is alive."
"O-oh..."
Ruijerd's words carried weight.
He apparently considered himself the world's worst father.
Maybe he felt some sympathy, being a terrible father himself.
"Rudy, don't order your elders around with your chin."
"That's not what I was doing. It was a chin of trust."
"Same difference."
Paul said that and sat down across from me.
"So that's the demon you were talking about yesterday...?"
"Yes. This is Ruijerd of the Superd tribe."
"Superd, huh. He looks like a pretty friendly guy.
Guess rumors aren't everything."
"You're not scared?"
"Don't be ridiculous. He saved my son."
His opinion was pretty different from yesterday's...
I decided not to bring it up.
Anyway.
"So what brings you here?"
The words came out stiffer than I'd intended.
Paul flinched.
"Well... I came to apologize."
"For what?"
"For yesterday."
"There's no need to apologize."
An apology would be convenient, sure, but I'd spent the whole night sleeping on Eris's chest and had properly reflected on things.
"I'll be honest — until now, I've been taking this journey lightly."
At first, sure, but overall, things had been going smoothly.
I'd had enough breathing room to get distracted by lewd things.
Not gathering information about the
I hadn't been able to at Zant Port, but at Wanport I'd been in contact with information brokers.
If I'd asked them, I could have gotten some kind of leads.
I'd had every reason to look into it and hadn't.
My mistake.
"So Father, you had every right to be angry.
I'm the one who should be sorry, especially during such a difficult time."
The Fittoa Region had been wiped out, and the family had been scattered.
Considering what Paul must have been going through at the time, I had no right to blame him.
I'd been able to stay carefree because I didn't know.
Being ignorant of tragedy was a blessing.
"No, that's not true at all.
Rudy, you did your best too."
"Not at all. It was easy."
That was because Ruijerd had been with me.
After leaving the town of Licarce, the journey had been relatively smooth.
We never got ambushed by monsters.
Ruijerd would catch food without being asked.
He even stopped Eris's fights.
It had been an easy trip for me.
A real cakewalk.
"So, easy, huh..."
I couldn't tell what Paul was thinking.
All I could tell was that his voice was trembling slightly.
"I'm sorry I couldn't find your message. What did it say?"
"...Don't worry about me. It said to search the northern part of the Central Continent."
"I see. Then once I've delivered Eris to the Fittoa Region, I'll head north to search."
I answered mechanically.
For some reason, my own words felt stiff.
Why was that?
Was I nervous?
But why?
I'd forgiven Paul, and Paul had forgiven me.
We couldn't go back to how things were, but this was an emergency.
I was nervous because it was an emergency.
That must be it.
"That aside, please tell me again in detail about the current state of the Fittoa Region."
"...Yeah."
Paul's voice was stiff too, still trembling.
Was he nervous as well?
No, before that — something was still wrong with me too.
I couldn't act normal.
How had I used to talk with Paul before?
We'd been the type to banter easily with each other.
"Where do I start..."
Paul, in his stiff voice, told me what had happened in the Fittoa Region.
That all the buildings had vanished.
That every person living there had been teleported.
That many dead bodies had been found.
That there were still countless missing people.
That Paul had recruited volunteers to form search parties.
That was why he'd set up his base in Millis, where the adventurer's guild headquarters was located and information was easy to gather.
As it happened, there was another base in the capital of the
Alphonse was the overall leader of the search effort, and was apparently still rescuing refugees in the Fittoa Region.
Paul had left messages everywhere.
He'd been instructing me to search for our family separately.
As the eldest son who'd already left the nest.
As his duty.
Age-wise, I was still supposed to be a child, but I considered myself an adult mentally.
If I'd seen those messages, I would have been motivated.
Zenith, Lilia, and
Perhaps we'd passed each other somewhere on the Demon Continent.
When I thought about it, my actions became regrettable.
I'd been in too much of a hurry, cutting my stays in each town too short.
"Norn is safe, right?"
"Yeah, luckily she was with me."
According to Paul, the teleportation worked so that if any part of your bodies were touching, you'd be sent together.
"Is Norn doing well?"
"Yeah. She was a little confused at first in unfamiliar territory, but now she's basically the party's mascot."
"I'm glad to hear that."
So Norn was fine.
Yeah, that was truly good news.
A silver lining in a tragedy.
Something to be grateful for.
And yet, for some reason, my heart felt heavy.
"..."
"..."
The conversation trailed off.
The silence was oddly awkward.
My relationship with Paul wasn't supposed to be like this.
It was supposed to be lighter, more casual.
Something was off.
--- After a while.
Paul kept talking, but I couldn't find the right responses.
I just repeated detached, stiff replies.
Eventually, the other customers had all left.
Before long, they'd probably ask us to clear out so they could start prepping.
Paul seemed to pick up on the same cue.
"Rudy, what are you going to do from here?"
That was his final question.
"...For now, I'll take Eris to the Fittoa Region."
"But there's nothing left in the Fittoa Region."
"But I'm going back."
I had to go back.
Philip,
Even if I went back, the house would be empty.
But I had to return.
Somehow.
Because that was the purpose of my journey.
Staying true to my original goal.
First, I'd reach the Fittoa Region and see the current situation with my own eyes.
From there, I could head to the northern Central Continent to search.
Or I could convince Ruijerd to take me back to the Demon Continent and search there.
Since I understood the language, I could even go to the Begaritto Continent.
"After that, I'll search other locations."
"...I see."
The conversation ended abruptly again.
I didn't know what to say.
"Here."
The tavern master set a cup down in front of us.
Steam rose from the wooden cup that had been placed with a soft clunk.
"On the house."
"Thank you."
I realized my throat was bone dry.
My hands were clenched tight, my palms slick with sweat.
At the same time, I noticed how cold my back and underarms were.
My bangs were stuck to my forehead.
"Hey, kid. I don't know the details, but..."
"...?"
"Look at his face, at least."
At his words, I finally realized.
I hadn't looked at Paul's face once.
Not once, since I'd first looked away.
I swallowed hard and looked at my father's face.
He looked anxious.
Like he was about to cry.
It was a terrible face.
"What's with that expression?"
"What do you mean, what?"
Paul gave a wry smile, but there was no energy in it.
Between his expression and his gaunt cheeks, he looked like a different person.
But I'd seen that same look somewhere before.
Where was it...
Long ago. A long time ago.
I remembered.
The bathroom at home.
About a year or two after I'd started withdrawing from the world due to the bullying.
I still thought there was time to fix things, but I'd already become aware of an uncrossable gap between myself and everyone else.
But I was too scared to go outside, and all I felt was frustration and anxiety.
The time when I'd been at my most emotionally unstable.
I see.
So that was it.
Paul was emotionally unstable right now.
His missing people hadn't been found.
No matter how much time passed, there was no word.
He worried, and worried, and worried.
Maybe they were injured.
Maybe they'd gotten sick.
Or maybe, by now, they were long gone...
He worried, and worried, and worried...
And when I finally showed up looking nothing like what he'd imagined — calm and composed — he'd snapped.
I understood that feeling too.
It was right after I'd started withdrawing.
An acquaintance from middle school had come to visit, telling me about various things at school.
While I was this depressed, this messed up inside, the other person cheerfully talked about school life, and my stomach had twisted into knots.
I'd lashed out with harsh words.
The next day, I'd thought I'd apologize if they came back.
But they never came.
And I never went to find them.
I'd had some kind of stupid pride.
I remembered now.
This was that face.
"I have a proposal."
"Rudy?"
"In a situation like this, we need to be adults."
"Yeah, well, I know I've been acting immaturely... What are you getting at?"
Something inside me cleared.
I finally understood how Paul felt.
Once I realized that, everything else was easy.
I remembered the past.
The time I'd talked back to Paul with a sharp tone when he'd scolded me.
At the time, I'd thought he was a hopeless person.
Twenty-four years old — young for a father, so I'd excused it.
Six years had passed since then.
Paul was thirty now.
He was still younger than me in my previous life.
And compared to who I'd been in my previous life, he was doing fine.
I'd been the one doing nothing and blaming others.
I was different from that version of me.
I'd sworn to be different.
I'd been forgetting lately, but I'd promised not to repeat the same mistakes.
I'd sworn to live seriously in this world.
This time, the scale was bigger, but I was doing the same thing.
The same thing I'd done six years ago.
We were repeating the same mistake.
Thinking we'd grown, thinking we'd moved forward, while standing in the same spot the whole time.
On that note, I should honestly reflect.
And then, on top of that reflection — "Let's pretend yesterday never happened."
That was my proposal.
This time, I'd been hurt.
My heart had nearly broken clean in half.
Surely, the friends who'd worried about me back then had felt the same way.
And they'd walked away, never to see me again.
That wouldn't happen this time.
I would never sever my bond with Paul.
"Yesterday, we didn't fight.
Right now, in this moment, it's a father and son reuniting after years apart...
Let's say that's what happened."
"Rudy? What are you talking about?"
"Just do it. Come on, open your arms."
"O-okay?"
Paul spread his arms, confused.
I dove into his chest.
"Father! I've missed you!"
A faint smell of alcohol wafted up.
He seemed sober now, but maybe he was just hungover.
Come to think of it, back in the old days, he never used to drink...
"R-Rudy?"
Paul was bewildered.
I rested my chin on Paul's shoulder and spoke slowly.
"Come on. Don't you have something to say to your son you haven't seen in ages?"
Thinking what a cheesy scene this was, I squeezed Paul's bony frame as hard as I could.
His face was gaunt, his body seemed to have shrunk.
Part of it was that I'd grown, but Paul had suffered too. More than me.
Paul hesitated, then murmured: "I-I missed you too..."
One sentence, and something inside him crumbled.
"I missed you too... I missed you, Rudy... All this time, no one could be found, and I thought they were all dead... You, seeing your face..."
I looked up. Paul was crying.
His face was twisted into an ugly scrunch.
A grown man, sobbing ungracefully, tears streaming down his face.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Rudy..."
Something in me started to break too.
I patted Paul's head gently, and for a while, the two of us cried together.
Just like that, I was reunited with my father for the first time in five years.