Chapter 78: Returning Home (Patreon)

No matter what others might say... no matter how they might one day describe the day Rudeus fought Dragon God Orsted—whether they claimed the sun itself had fallen from the sky, or something else entirely—the outcome was already set in stone.

Because Rudeus had already gotten the result he wanted. He no longer intended to regress himself back to the time before the great battle. And the ink-staining effect had already caused his actions to send drastic ripples down the long river of time.

From the moment the battle with the Dragon God ended, everything became a brand new beginning.

Nanahoshi Shizuka and Ruijerd, together with Eris and Rudeus, passed through the collapsed, shattered Red Wyrm Mountains. After crossing the vast green grasslands beneath it, they finally arrived at the Asura Kingdom's Fittoa Region.

Just like that, a journey that had taken about two years in real-world time came to an end before they knew it.

Standing once more in Buena Village, Rudeus looked at the place where he'd grown up—now nothing but a stretch of wasteland. Seeing the sight for the first time, he felt a rush of emotion. The once peaceful, beautiful village had proven far too fragile before a world-ending disaster.

He walked slowly to where his house had once stood. But the grand old house was nothing more than ruins now.

He turned around.

Rudeus looked at Ruijerd and asked with a smile, "Are you leaving? Or will you keep working with me in our Alliance of the Righteous?"

Hearing this, Ruijerd hesitated for a moment.

Before the great battle with the Dragon God, he would certainly have left the moment he delivered Rudeus here. But now, with the battle over, he'd spent these past few days thinking things over.

Should he leave or not? If he left, would he go back to wandering the Demon Continent, teaching children with no particular direction? That had always been what he did.

But after spending time with Rudeus—experiencing day after day the meticulously laid plans Rudeus always seemed to have ready, setting goals with such method and steadily feeling himself close in on them—especially since a life beside Rudeus was bound to be an extraordinarily brilliant one. If he could stay on as Rudeus's teammate for good, he might be able to clear the Superd tribe's tarnished name that much faster.

So even after thinking it over so many times, now that the moment had actually come, he still hesitated.

Taking a deep breath, Ruijerd smiled. "Could you give me a little time?"

Nodding, Rudeus smiled. "Of course, that's no problem."

Ruijerd nodded, let out a long sigh, and said to Rudeus earnestly, with a smile, "Thank you. I've learned a great deal on this journey."

Rudeus smiled. "Actually, it should be us thanking you—for teaching Eris so tirelessly, and for tirelessly bringing us all the way back here."

As soon as he finished speaking, Eris bowed with great solemnity.

Then she looked up and said, "Thank you, Master Ruijerd!"

"Uh..."

Looking at the earnest expressions on both Eris and Rudeus, Ruijerd gave a bashful little laugh.

Then he smiled and said, "Well, that's it for now, I suppose."

Nodding, Rudeus smiled. "Then I'll look forward to the next time we meet."

"All right—see you then!"

"Goodbye, Mister Ruijerd!"

The moment the words left their mouths, Ruijerd shouldered his pack, picked up his spear, and strode off toward the south.

At that moment, Nanahoshi Shizuka asked, "Are you really going to just let a companion like that walk away?"

Rudeus turned to her with a smile. "It's only through parting that a better reunion can come. Take you, for instance—if you hadn't gone through so much danger in this world, would you miss the simple, ordinary twenty-first century so much?"

Nanahoshi Shizuka nodded and said nothing more.

As for Rudeus, he called on Wind Magic directly, lifting both Nanahoshi Shizuka and Eris into the air.

He smiled. "Next stop, then—Citadel of Roa."

Eris wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes and nodded firmly.

"Okay!"

Rudeus gave her a reassuring smile.

With a boom, the Wind Magic swept them swiftly toward Citadel of Roa.

It was a direction he'd traveled more times than he could count. But so much time had passed since then—and after the great battle with the Dragon God, a permanent fusion energy ring had formed within his body. Energy was no longer any kind of limiting factor for him.

As for magic, after all this time of progress, even Wind Magic—not his main focus—had improved tremendously. What used to take over half an hour, traveling from Buena Village to Citadel of Roa, Rudeus had now cut down to just fifteen minutes.

Nanahoshi Shizuka sat steadily atop the Wind Magic, gazing at the layered sea of clouds beneath her.

She sighed. "Rudeus really is amazing. I once dreamed of a scene like this, after flying on a plane. But actually living it—I never would have dared imagine that."

Rudeus smiled. "Yeah. This world's full of every kind of danger, sure—but it's also full of the kind of potential that lets a single person grow strong enough to decide the fate of the world."

Nanahoshi Shizuka nodded, looking at his confident smile.

She laughed softly. "Yeah. I really didn't expect that you'd end up here, Senior—after all these years of growing, standing at the very peak of the world."

Rudeus grinned at her. "So—compared to that other world, I don't have any family left there anymore. Even if I went back, I'd just be grinding through the same three-point routine as some corporate drone. Next to this world, that one's simply too boring. I like this world a lot better. Still, I'll do what I can to help you find your way back."

Nanahoshi Shizuka nodded, feeling a strange mix of emotions at his words. It seemed that the Rudeus on the other side had already become quite an old man—while she had only just started out, hadn't even graduated college yet.

Once she graduated, she supposed she'd need to find a job. Or maybe... become a full-time housewife?