Chapter 44: Gentle Rocari (Patreon)

Listening to the village chief's reproach, Ruijerd said nothing, giving no clear answer either way.

Once he'd made up his mind, he'd simply keep pushing forward.

He firmly believed that if he kept influencing the children, little by little, the whole world's hostility toward the Superd tribe would eventually be washed away.

It was at that moment—

Rudy asked, "Could you tell me the truth behind it?"

Ruijerd glanced at Rudy, then nodded.

He spoke slowly. "Four hundred years ago, the Demon God Laplace... it was he who gave us an incredibly powerful spear.

After that, we came to possess tremendous power.

The Superd tribe came to revere it as the very soul of our people!

In that war four hundred years ago, the Demon God Laplace unified the entire Demon Continent.

Throughout it, the Superd tribe fought endlessly at his side.

But then—no one knows exactly when it started—under the spear's influence, our people stopped telling friend from foe. They fell into indiscriminate slaughter, utterly consumed by bloodlust.

They killed their own friends. They killed their own kin. They killed everyone and everything around them, slaughtering anything within sight.

The reason the Superd tribe came to be despised by the whole world traces back to that beginning, to when we first trusted the Demon God Laplace's word.

We served him with unwavering loyalty—and in return, all we got was the Demon God Laplace's betrayal!"

Ruijerd finished speaking, his voice heavy with the weight of it all.

Rudy smiled. "As payment for you saving me, Mister Ruijerd, I'll do everything I can to help you from here on."

Ruijerd turned and met the earnest look in Rudy's eyes.

For a moment, something in him was genuinely moved.

But sadly, Ruijerd had no idea what Rudy was really thinking—and Rudy had no intention of ever revealing his true feelings.

Once you were strong enough, and cold-blooded enough, who would dare hold any ill will against you?

It was just like before, in Fittoa Territory, when he'd made his declaration to everyone in the domain. The process had been coldly pragmatic—yet everyone had responded with nothing but warmth and enthusiasm.

Power and interest: that was the most direct, most reliable relationship there was. It held true in any world.

Once he reached the pinnacle of this world, clearing the Superd tribe's name would take nothing more than a few words from him.

As night deepened, the village chief left the turtle-shell hut.

Rudy and Ruijerd leaned back against the wall behind them and gradually drifted off to sleep.

In his dream, Rudy saw himself as a child.

As he grew up, he met Roxy.

Then he met Sylphiette and Eris.

Finally, the Teleport Incident struck Fittoa Region.

He'd finished preparing everything he possibly could.

After clearing out Hitogami entirely and confirming there was nothing left to worry about, he finally set off on a brand-new journey to explore the world and grow stronger.

Everything that came into his sight, whether or not it had originally been male, turned into a girl—a beautiful girl.

Dragon God, Demon God, all of them turned into girls too. He alone remained male, blissfully setting off on a journey through stars and seas amid an absolutely massive kingdom of women.

He piloted a planetary battleship, cruising through the cosmos.

Just as he seemed about to discover a new world—

suddenly, a startled cry jolted Rudy awake.

The next morning, golden sunlight streamed in through the doorway.

And right at that moment, he found himself holding Roxy's mother in a tight embrace.

"!!??" Her eyes went wide. Rudy scrambled back several steps.

Flustered, he said, "Sorry, I wasn't fully awake yet—I lost my composure for a moment."

Roxy's mother, Rokari, smiled. "It's fine...

It must be hard, being swept up in such a great calamity at just ten years old.

Are you missing your own mother right now?

I might be a bit too old for it, but as Roxy's student...

if you're willing, you're welcome to think of me as a stand-in mother, just for now."

Rudy hesitated for a moment, then smiled. "Then I won't hold back—Mother!"

"Mm-hm," Rokari nodded, smiling as she stepped closer.

She gently pulled Rudy into her arms. "Now that you've called me Mother, why don't you rest a little longer right here."

"Mm, thank you, Mother."

Breathing in Rokari's gentle fragrance, Rudy closed his eyes contentedly and drifted back to sleep.

But the scene left Sylphiette and Eris, who had just woken up nearby, staring at each other in bewilderment.

Rokari looked at the two girls and smiled. "All this time, Rudy's surely been working incredibly hard.

But everyone has a soft, fragile place inside them.

Who wouldn't want an adult's care, a mother's comfort?

To you two, Rudy's probably an incredibly capable partner.

But to me... he's just an exhausted child who keeps pushing forward against the odds."

Rokari's words made Eris and Sylphiette think back, unbidden, to everything since they'd first met him.

It seemed they'd always been the ones relying on Rudy's care.

In their eyes, Rudy was an all-powerful pillar of strength.

But that very habit had made them overlook that deep down, Rudy too had a fragile side.

That's true... everyone has feelings. Who doesn't have a vulnerable side?