A few hours from the Zircon Palace…
The gust of wind welcomed us, as we reached the City of Tybalt. This is where Emerald Palace is.
To think that it would take us two weeks of our vacation to reach this place. I kinda feel like a hero who travelled a lot of years, just to reach the Lair of the Demon Lord.
Well…
After a lot of deviations we finally reached the Emerald Palace. As if forgetting the fact that I have motion sickness, I quickly went off the wagon and took a deep breath.
"It really has been a while..!" I shouted.
Reina chuckled, "Are you that happy?" I turned to look at her. "Well, of course I am" I smiled. "H-hmph!" She suddenly averted my eyes, with a red face.
Don't blush, aren't you the one who asked me?
I sighed. "Then, why don't we hurry up? You want to see the Palace, right?" Gino invited. I nodded with a smile. "Alright!" Everyone cheered.
We walked to the main gate of the Emerald Palace.
In front of the gate were two men, one was a man with curly red hair, and the other one also had a red hair but it was a straight or somehow messy hair.
They were both wearing the official uniform of the knights of the Doghanik Empire, a uniform with a combination of blue, red and gold.
As we approached the two of them, I called out to them. "Reid! Rexx!" I raised my right hand and waved at them.
"Hmm..? Young master?!!" They shouted, before they quickly approached us. "Eh? You two…" I backed off.
They hugged me, tightly. "We had missed you, young master!" they shouted. "I get it so…G-Get off me!!!" I shouted.
…
"We are very sorry, young master" The curly haired guy bowed.
The messy haired guy whimpered, "We had missed you very much that we acted rudely like that out of a sudden, young master"
"I-It's fine" I stated, as I tried to catch my breath. I suddenly noticed that the others stood surprised behind me.
I gasped, "Ah, right! This one with curly hair is the older twin, Reid, and this one with messy hair is the younger one, Rexx" I introduced the twins to my friends.
They all remained silent, with a face saying "Is that so?" and "That's not the thing we want to ask", at the same time.
…
We entered the palace after I introduced the others to Reid and Rexx and talked with them for a bit.
I'm finally back! Are they already here? Well, we're talking about my siblings here, I'm sure they already came before me.
Someone spoke my name, "Ed?!" from the stairs that was connected to the second floor. I smiled, as soon as I saw who it was. "Seria!"
"I was waiting for you!" Seria cheered, as she went down the stairs quick and hugged me followed by the sudden crowd of maids and butlers of the palace.
It seems like because of Seria's loud voice, many maids and butlers heard it and stopped the job they're doing and went to the entrance just to greet me.
Can't say that I didn't expect for this to happen, but never had I thought that it would really happen.
This is rather tiring than I thought. Haah… Well, it's not like I'm not happy, though
After seeing me get fussed by both Reid and Rexx, followed by the maids and butlers, like that. Reina mumbled, "You're really loved by everyone, aren't you?"
I remained silent as I thought to myself, "What's wrong with her suddenly mumbling such thing?"
…
I laid down my bed that I haven't slept at for half a year now. Reina and the others are at their own respective rooms which were readied by Seria.
My eyes gazed at the ceiling that used to be unfamiliar to me. Yet, now I am looking at it, as if it is a distant past.
I chuckled.
Suddenly, a soft knock was heard. "Come in!" As I said so, a little girl with short light blonde hair and jewel blue eyes like mine, entered.
"Elicia!" I cheered, as I sat down my bed. "Welcome back, big brother" she smiled, as she bowed.
My little sister had become polite and cuter, while I was gone. It makes me feel being left out a bit, but well.
I smiled, "I'm back Elicia"
If Reina were to see my smiling face now, surely she would look at me with a disgusted face.
What can I do, it has been a while since I last saw my beloved little sister. Half a year to be precise!
That's why this emotion is just normal. Yup, normal!
"So, isn't there something you need from me?" I asked. "Yes, Father was calling for you, Big brother" Elicia stated. "Father..?" I mumbled.
So, he really stayed here. I only heard it as a rumor from the teachers at the academy that the Emperor hadn't gone back to the Main Palace, lately.
It was true, huh?
"Okay, I'll go now and talk with him" I stood up. "Ah, wait!" Elicia stopped me and pulled my shirt from the back.
Elicia asked me, "Can I join you?" while looking at me with puppy eyes.
H-how cute!!
I coughed to hide my excitement, "W-well, I think it's fine" and my little sister smiled happily.
Since, I just came back I doubt that Dad's gonna talk about something very important and serious, which is prohibited to be heard by Elicia.
I walked the hallway.
It was the hallway I had walked a lot, and can also be called my path that led me to many things.
"Is something wrong, big bro?" asked my little sister. "No" I smiled, and shook my head.
Right, today it's kinda different. Since today, the one with me isn't Seria but my little sister, Elicia.
It is still nostalgic, though.
"We're here" I knocked the door. A familiar large voice called me in. I opened the door, and saw 4 nostalgic figures.
Father was sitting on his chair, like usual. And my older siblings were beside him. Elicia went over to Father's seat, and they all looked at me.
"Welcome back Ed!" They all greeted me. "Thanks…" I nearly cried.
It was something I noticed recently, since I was reincarnated as Edward von Collins. I had made many important people. And I will surely continue to from now on.
Some might leave me someday, but then I will meet another people in exchange. So I don't feel sad anymore about it.
People usually meet out of coincidence, but it ends up with bigger meaning. Meeting each other slowly made their world larger than how it used to.
It's like how Fiore had told me, back then.
*
"Are you ready?" A gray haired man with his bangs covering his right eye, asked. "Yes" A browned haired guy with his eyes half-opened, answered.
The gray haired man stated, "We must quickly do our mission or else we will be late to save him"
"But, is it already confirmed that he is the one we are looking for?" The brown haired guy asked.
The gray haired man nodded. "Father said so. And just by looking at this massive aura of Ether, can you even think that he isn't the one?" he stated.
"Well, I guess you're right" The brown haired man mumbled. "To think that this massive aura is coming from a young boy is unbelievable, though"
The gray haired man mumbled, "Father said that he is only a year younger than us" The brown haired boy looked up.
The bell rang, stating the time was dawn.
"Well, let's get ready then!" The brown haired guy stated. "Yeah, let's do our mission already…" The gray haired man stated.
"Our mission to catch Prince Edward von Collins..!"