[Paul]
I still hadn't left the bar.
The sun was on the verge of setting, so the place was starting to get
more customers who weren't members of my squad. On the other hand, many
of my people had already left. Not that I really cared. I was planted at a table
all by myself, drinking like a fish.
Apparently, it was obvious that I wasn't in the best of moods.
Everyone in the place was giving me a wide berth.
"Hey there! I've been lookin' for you, buddy."
Everyone except the most recent arrival, at least.
I looked up and found myself face-to-face with a grinning monkey of a
man. It was the first time I'd seen his ugly mug in a year. "Geese…? Where
the hell have you been, huh?"
"Ooh, hostile! You seem even crankier than usual, my friend."
"What do you expect?"
Clicking my tongue in irritation, I reached up and touched my cheek. It
was still throbbing where Rudeus had punched me earlier. Maybe I should
have swallowed my pride and let one of our healers fix me up.
That damn kid. I swear. "The Demon Continent might be tough, but
my magic was more than a match for it," huh? Well, good for you. If it was
such a cakewalk, why didn't you take a little time to look around for your
mother?
Oh, but at least I got to hear your lecture on the best ways to cook
Great Tortoise meat. "If I hadn't hit on the idea of creating a pot using Earth
magic, we would've been stuck eating charred, smelly chunks of that stuff for
a whole year!" Wasn't there anything else you could have done with the time you spent hunting down ingredients for some monster stew?
Ugh. God damn it.
And then, just to top it all off, you've got the nerve to accuse me of
cheating! I haven't even thought about touching a woman in the last year and
a half, you smug little moron! You didn't do a thing to help, and you think
you have the right to get on my case?
Oh, you didn't know, huh? Great excuse. If you'd actually bothered
looking at the world around you, Zenith or Lilia might be back here with us
right now!
Seriously. What a joke…
"Hee hee hee. From the look of things, I'm guess you haven't bumped
into each other yet." Grinning to himself for some unclear reason, Geese
ordered something or other. Presumably booze. The man was a heavier
drinker even than Talhand, and Talhand was a dwarf.
"Hey, Paul. Make sure to stop by the Adventurers' Guild tomorrow, all
right?"
"Why?"
"Because I think you'll run into someone interesting."
Someone interesting? Geese apparently thought this meeting would
improve my mood. Given the timing of his arrival, and who I'd "run into"
today…it wasn't hard to guess who he meant. "You talking about Rudy?"
Pouting a little, the old monkey scratched at his head. "Huh? How'd
you know that?"
"I already bumped into him today."
"You don't look particularly happy, considering. Did you have a fight
or something?"
A fight…? Well, I guess we did. Although it barely even qualified as
one.
Damn it. Just thinking about it's got my face aching again…
"What happened, Paul? Tell me all about it." Geese got up and pulled
his chair over next to me. With that friendly face of his, the man had always
had a talent for listening to people's problems. This wasn't the first time he'd stuck his nose into my business and encouraged me to gripe.
"All right, get a load of this…"
I went ahead and told Geese what happened earlier.
I'd been happy to see Rudeus, of course. But it felt like we weren't
really on the same page about the situation, so I asked him what he'd been
doing up until now. At which point he started talking all cheerfully about his
journey through the Demon Continent.
Every other word out of his mouth was some pointless boast, so I
pointed out that he could have used his time more productively. Then he got
all pissed off at me. He made a crack about me sleeping around. I lost my
temper completely. And then we fought, and he kicked my ass. The end.
"Ahh…yeah. I gotcha…"
Geese had listened patiently to the whole story, nodding and tossing in
a few brief comments here and there. I felt like he'd been sympathizing with
me. But then, once I'd wrapped things up, he looked me in the eye and said,
"Well, sounds like your expectations might have been a bit unfair there,
chief."
"Huh?" I replied, sounding like a complete moron.
Unfair? How I was I being unfair? And to whom? "You think I
expected too much? Of Rudy?"
"I mean, think about it, man," continued Geese as I blinked in
confusion. "Sure, the kid's amazing. I've never seen anyone who could cast
spells without a word like that. And when I saw him going blow for blow
with North Saint Gallus, it sent chills down my spine. Rudeus is the kind of
prodigy you see once a century."
Right. Rudeus was a prodigy. He was a genius. He could always do
anything he set his mind to, even as a little kid. For a while, I'd been under
the impression that he had some relatively serious flaws as well, but…I
mean, by the end of his stay in Roa, Philip was willing to marry off his own
daughter to him. Philip! The same guy who talked trash about me behind my
back! "Yeah, that's right. He's unbelievable. When he was only five years
old, he—"
"But at the end of the day, he's still just a kid."
Startled by Geese's firm interruption, I fell silent.
"Rudeus is still an eleven-year-old kid," he repeated slowly, just to
drive the point home. "Even you didn't run away from home until you were
twelve, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Anyone younger than that's still just a snot-nosed brat. Isn't that what
you always used to say?"
"Yeah, okay, sure. So what if I did?" Come on. Rudy's already
stronger than me.
I did have some alcohol in my system this morning. Even with that
factored in, though, it was clear the kid had improved dramatically. I might
have been drunk, but I was also going all-out; I lowered myself to using the
North God Style's "Four-Legged Stance," and even busted out the Sword
God Style's "Silent Sword." But my sword only sliced those panties he was
wearing off his face. Rudy wasn't even taking the fight seriously, either. The
fact that none of my people suffered anything worse than a few minor injuries
was proof enough of that.
It was hard to say just how he'd grown as a fighter since the last time I
saw him. But even at the age of seven, he was cleverer than me. Now he was
both smarter and stronger than I was. What was so unreasonable about
expecting him to accomplish more than I could, then? His age had nothing to
do with his capabilities.
"Paul, what were you doing when you were eleven years old?"
"Hm…?"
As I recalled, I spent most of that year at home training with the sword
and getting chewed out by my old man. He found reasons to complain about
every little thing I did, and took every chance he could to smack me around.
"You think you could have survived alone on the Demon Continent
back then?"
"Heh. You're forgetting one little detail here, Geese. Rudy found
himself a demon bodyguard, remember? This guy speaks Human, Demon-
God, and Beast-God, and he's strong enough to take down an A-ranked
monster single-handed. Anyone could have made it back with a chaperone like that."
"Nope," Geese declared confidently. "You wouldn't have made it. No
chance. Even if you went out there now, you still wouldn't survive on your
own."
I can't say hearing that put me in the best of moods. It didn't help that
Geese was still smirking at me from across the table. The man had a seriously
irritating smile. "Hah! Fine! Doesn't that just prove my point, then? Rudy
pulled off something I couldn't. My son's a prodigy! He's already standing
on his own two feet! I've got nothing left to teach him. Was it wrong of me to
expect him to put those talents to use, huh?! Am I really in the wrong here?!"
"Yeah, you are. But that's nothing new, hey?" Still smirking, Geese
paused for a moment to chug down the beer he'd just been handed. "Ahhhh!
That's the stuff. You can't get booze like this in the Great Forest, you
know?"
"Geese!"
"Okay, okay. No need to shout." Geese smacked his wooden mug
down onto the table and looked me in the eye, his expression suddenly much
more serious. "Listen, Paul. You've never been to the Demon Continent,
have you?"
"So what?"
It was true. I'd never had the pleasure of visiting. I mean, I'd heard the
rumors, of course. Everyone made it out to be a dangerous place where you'd
run into monsters every time you took a walk, and had to eat them to survive.
But "lots of monsters" sounded like something I could deal with, honestly.
"Well, it's where I was born and raised, remember? And in my
considered opinion, the whole continent is bad news."
"You know, you never really talked about the place, now that I think
about it. What's so awful about it?"
"First of all, there's no proper highways. They have roads between the
towns, of course, but you won't find anything like those safe, smooth,
monster-free ones they've got on Millis and the Central Continent. If you're
traveling anywhere, you'd better expect to be attacked by C-ranked monsters.
Or worse."
Okay, I knew the place had a lot of monsters, but C-ranked or worse?
On the Central Continent, you'd have to go deep into a forest to find anything
that dangerous. Many monsters at that rank traveled in large packs, or had
some lethal special ability. "I feel like you're exaggerating just a little there,
Geese."
"Nope. I'm not telling you any tall tales right now, man. That's just
how the Demon Continent is. The place is crawling with nasty monsters."
Geese looked perfectly serious, but that was how he usually looked
when he was lying to you. I wasn't going to fall for his crap this time.
"Now, let's say we dump a kid out in the middle of a place like that.
This is a real talented kid, mind you, but he's got no real-world combat
experience."
"…Right."
No real-world experience, huh? Seemed like we were talking about
Rudy again. Come to think of it, I'd never heard of him getting into any
actual battles before. But he'd apparently managed to fight off some would-
be kidnappers in Roa, and Ghislaine thought he might be able to beat her if
he had enough distance at the start. I didn't know a single swordfighter better
than Ghislaine. If she couldn't close in on him safely, then there probably
weren't a thousand people on the planet capable of beating him at his ideal
range.
All in all, his lack of hard experience didn't seem like such a big deal
to me. Didn't Alex R. Kalman, the second North God, cut down a Sword
Emperor in the first battle he ever fought?
"At this point, a grown-up appears and offers to help the kid out. This
guy's a demon, and a really strong one, too. In fact, he's a Superd. You've
heard of them, I'm sure?"
"Of course." To be frank, I wasn't sure I bought that part of the story.
From what I'd heard, there were only a handful of Superd left, even on the
Demon Continent.
"So, the kid has someone offering him aid when he's in desperate
straits. This guy's willing to help him navigate a place he knows nothing
about. And the Superd are terrifying, of course! He has no idea how this guy
might react if he refuses. You'd basically have to accept that offer, right?"
"Yeah, probably."
"But as the days roll on by, clever little Rudeus starts to ask himself a
question: 'Why exactly is this guy helping me out, anyway?'"
Sure. That did sound like Rudeus. The question might never have
occurred to me, but the kid was always sharp about that sort of thing. I'd
known just how weirdly perceptive he was ever since that day he stepped in
to save Lilia from Zenith's wrath.
"Problem is, he can't figure it out. He doesn't know what this guy's
really after."
Well, how would he? You can never know what a stranger's really
thinking. That's the whole reason guys like Geese manage to make a living.
"This Superd's helping out for now, but he could easily abandon or
betray them someday…or so Rudeus thinks. And that's why he decides to try
and get on the guy's good side."
"I don't know about that plan, Geese. Does a Superd even have a good
side?"
"Okay, don't get all clever. You know what I mean, right? Rudeus
decides to appeal to this guy's emotions. He wants to make him feel like
they're all buddies."
Hmm. That would explain why Rudy had spent so much time helping
out this demon guy. And it did make sense, actually. Not only was he scoring
brownie points with his protector, he also had a chance to develop his own
skills as an adventurer in case he needed to rely on them later. I had to admit,
that sounded rational. It was probably the safest path he could have chosen.
Hmph…the boy did have a good head on his shoulders, didn't he?
"Tch. You'd think a kid that smart could have found some time to look
around a little, too."
Geese held up one hand and spread out his fingers. "He's in an
unfamiliar land," he said, folding one down. "He's on his first adventure
ever. No matter how smart he is, this is all brand new to him. He needs to
learn the basics fast, before someone takes advantage of him. He's trying to
keep a demon who might betray him at any moment happy. Oh, and he's got
a little pal tagging along behind him who he needs to protect."
By the time he'd finished with this recitation, Geese had run out of
fingers. With a little shrug, he moved on to his closing argument.
"If he'd also managed to comb the continent for other people who'd
been teleported, well, that would just make him superhuman. Seriously, I'd
be ready to give the kid a spot in the Seven Great Powers."
The Seven Great Powers, huh? Now that brought back some memories.
Back in the day, I used to dream about earning myself that kind of fame. Still,
I felt like Rudy really did have the raw talent to make it on that list someday.
And I didn't think that was just my parental pride talking.
"The kid would have worked himself to death just trying. I know
Rudeus is a prodigy, but human beings have their limits, man. Especially
when they're still children."
"Okay, look," I interjected. "If it was that much of a struggle, then
why'd he make the whole thing sound like it was some big, fun adventure?
He sounded like one of those spoiled rich brats who poke around on the first
floor of a labyrinth just to have something they can brag about." If the
journey had been that rough for Rudy, he wouldn't have described it that
cheerfully. He would have told me about the hard and painful parts instead.
But he hadn't even mentioned any bumps in the road.
"Why? Because he didn't want to worry you, obviously."
"Huh?" I grunted, somehow sounding even stupider than before. "Why
the hell would he be worrying about me? Am I that much of a failure as a
father?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Tch. Sure, I guess you're right. I'm a weak little man who drowns
himself in booze for idiotic reasons. I suppose our little prodigy would feel
great pity at the sight of me."
"Hate to break this to you, Paul, but it doesn't take a prodigy to pity
you right now," Geese said, letting out a sigh. "I know you can't see your
own face, so let me tell you something. You look terrible, man."
"Oh yeah? Terrible enough to earn some sympathy from my own son?"
"Yep. If he walked in right now, I don't think you guys would end up
fighting. He'd probably feel too bad for you to say anything at all."
I reached up and touched my face. The stubble I hadn't bothered
shaving for several days rasped audibly against my fingers.
"Look, Paul. Let me just repeat myself here," said Geese, his tone
suddenly firm. "You expected too much from your son."
Was it really that unreasonable of me to expect more? Rudy could do
anything he set his mind to, ever since he was little. All I ever did was get in
his way with my clumsy attempts at parenting. He never really needed me.
"Tell me something. Why can't you just be happy that he made it here?
Does it really even matter what kind of a trip the kid had? Let's say it really
was a carefree cruise, and he spent every minute of it making out with his
little girlfriend. So what? He's here now, and he's safe. Ain't that something
worth celebrating?"
Of course it was. And I was happy at first.
"Would you have preferred your son to come back hollow-eyed and
down a limb or two? Hell, there was a damn good chance of you 'reuniting'
with a corpse. Oh wait, my mistake… If he'd died on the Demon Continent,
there wouldn't even be a body left for you to find."
Rudy? A corpse? I'd seen him healthy and full of life this afternoon, so
it was impossible to even imagine right now. But just a few days ago…hadn't
I pictured that exact scenario as I wallowed in despair?
"God, that poooor kid! After that long, hard trip, he finally found his
dear old dad again, but the guy turned out to be a drunken scumbag! If I was
him, I'd have cut ties on the spot."
Oh good. Now he was getting all theatrical. "I get the message, Geese.
You're not wrong, all right? But there's one thing I still don't understand."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"Why didn't Rudy know about what happened to Buena Village? I'm
positive I had a message waiting for him at Zant Port."
Geese opened his mouth as if to explain, then grimaced slightly and let
it fall shut. I recognized that expression. It meant he was hiding something.
"Uh, I dunno. He probably just got unlucky and didn't notice it."
"Wait…where exactly did you find Rudy, anyway? I was assuming
you ran into him in Zant Port."
I didn't know where Geese had been for the last year, but Rudeus had
come to Millis from the north. And Zant Port was the only city up in that
direction big enough for Geese to really thrive in.
I definitely left a message for Rudy in that city. And on top of that, we
had members of our squad stationed there. Their job was to gather
information from any travelers crossing over from the Demon Continent. If
the kid was an adventurer now, he obviously would have stopped by the
Guild, right?
"I met Rudeus in the Doldia Clan village, actually. That was a real
shocker, let me tell you. He'd managed to get himself locked up naked in a
jail cell on charges of assaulting their Sacred Beast."
"Naked? In a beastfolk jail? Are you serious…?"
I'd heard about this from Ghislaine. For members of the Doldia tribe,
to be stripped naked, chained up in a jail cell, and doused with ice-cold water
was the greatest of all humiliations. They almost never subjected outsiders to
such treatment, but when they did, it usually ended in the prisoner's death. I
tossed some water on Ghislaine as a joke once, and she glared at me like I'd
killed her parents.
"So, uh…what happened there?"
"What? Didn't Rudeus tell you about all that?"
"All I heard was the part where he traveled over the Demon
Continent." Why hadn't he told me why he never saw the message I left him
at Zant Port, anyway? That was really damn important.
Oh, right. I'd never actually asked him.
Damn it. Why did I have to be so short-tempered?
I needed to calm down and think this through carefully. Rudy was a
smart kid, but he'd somehow failed to see my message, or even hear about the situation. If he'd spent any time in Zant Port, he would have stumbled
across that kind of information without even trying.
In other words, he must have gotten mixed up in something the
moment he arrived there—something that got him carted off by the Doldia
tribe. Whatever it was, it must have been a major incident. Some of our Zant
Port people should be coming back in two or three days to make their regular
report, but maybe something big had gone down up north.
"Well, I don't know all the details myself," said Geese. "But I was
hanging around with the Mildett in the Great Forest when I got wind of a
rumor that the Doldia had locked up some human kid."
"Hm? Wait a second. You were where?" The Mildett? Wasn't that a
beastfolk tribe? They were the ones with rabbit ears, right?
"At a Mildett village. It's the one where their chief lives, so it's
actually pretty big, but—"
Geese's explanation was painfully long-winded and annoying.
Honestly, I was tempted to cut him off partway through. But I'd missed out
on important information by getting impatient with Rudy earlier. And
although I rarely learned from my mistakes, I wasn't stupid enough to screw
up the exact same way twice in a single day.
Eventually, Geese's rambling tale did come to an end. I tried to
summarize what he'd told me. "So basically, you were going around to all the
tribes in the Great Forest…and convincing them to send any lost humans they
found over to Millishion?"
"That's right. Heh heh. Feel free to shower me with gratitude!"
"Yeah, I owe you big time…" That probably explained the constant
trickle of refugees from the Great Forest area who'd been coming to me for
help.
"Well, anyway! When I heard about this human kid, something sorta
clicked, so I ran right over. Not to brag or anything, but I'm a man with many
connections, yeah? Just so happens I even know a couple people in the
Doldia village. I got one of their warriors, good pal of mine, to have me
tossed in the same jail cell as the kid."
"Hold on a second. Why would you need to go in there with him?"
"So I could help him escape, if worse came to worst. It's way easier
breaking out of a beastfolk prison than breaking into one."
I was familiar with Geese's talent for escaping prisons. Whenever he
got himself locked up for running some kind of scam, he'd pop back up soon
enough as if nothing had ever happened.
"Anyway, I was assuming I'd find the kid curled up in a ball sobbing,
you know? But instead…ha ha!"
"What happened? Was he all right?"
"He was lounging around casually in the nude, man! And the first
words out of his mouth were 'Welcome to life's final destination!' How was I
even supposed to respond to that?!" Geese had to stop for a moment to cackle
with laughter at his own story.
"This doesn't sound like a laughing matter, man…"
"It was hilarious, though! I could tell right away that he had to be your
kid, Paul!"
I didn't understand what was so funny about that. Or how he'd even
figured it out so quickly.
"He was exactly like the old you, man," Geese went on. "Ridiculously
cocky! Ready to boss around a total stranger! One time, he was trying to flirt
with this beastfolk girl, right? She glared at him and said 'I can smell your
arousal,' but he kept on ogling her anyway! That boy's your son, all right!"
At this point, the man broke off for another cackling fit. I shifted
uncomfortably in my seat, reminded of some youthful indiscretions of my
own.
"It did take a little longer for me to be completely sure, though," said
Geese, pausing to drain a second mug of beer. "But yeah, that's the shape of
it. You can hardly blame the kid for missing your message. From the sound
of things, he didn't spend any time in Zant Port."
"Hm? Hold on, Geese. You were locked up in the same cell, weren't
you? Then—"
Couldn't he have just explained everything?
"Anyway!" Geese said quickly, rising from his seat. "I'm sure there'll be a bit of lingerin' family awkwardness here, but do your old pal Geese a
favor and go make up with the boy, all right?"
"Hey, wait. I've still got more to—"
"Oh right. Slipped my mind before, but it looks like Elinalise and
company headed to the Demon Continent for you. People were sayin' some
elf lady had milked half the men in Zant Port dry, and we both know what
that means."
"What? Seriously?" I thought Elinalise hated me even more than the
others did, frankly.
"Heh heh. When all's said and done, they don't hate you as much as
they let on."
With that, Geese sauntered right out of the bar. He hadn't paid for his
drinks, of course. He never did. But this time, I didn't mind picking up his
tab.
In any case, I'd done more than enough drinking for one day. It was
about time I turned in for the night.
I'd have to go talk things out with Rudy soon. Maybe even
tomorrow…
"No more booze tonight, buddy," called Geese, who'd popped his head
back in the door. "You're gonna head over to the Dawn's Light Inn tomorrow
sober, got it?"
"Yeah, yeah! I know!" With a sigh of irritation, I put my mug of beer
down.
Now that I thought about it, though, I had been overdoing it lately.
Why did I keep drowning myself in this crap? I still had plenty of other
things I needed to be doing.
"Um…Captain Paul? Are you finished talking with your friend?"
As I was turning things over in my head, a woman hesitantly
approached my table. There was an apologetic expression on her face. My
head wasn't clear enough to recognize her at first, but after studying her face
for a few seconds, I realized it was Vierra—one of my squad's members.
"Heh. What's with you, girl? Felt like wearing something modest for once?"
"Well, yes…" With an ambiguous nod, Vierra lowered herself into the
seat Geese had just vacated a minute earlier. For some reason, she wasn't
wearing her usual provocative getup tonight. She'd changed into some
perfectly unremarkable outfit that made her look more like an ordinary city
girl.
"I was worried that what happened with your son earlier might have
been my fault, sir."
"What? Why would you think that?"
"Er, well, it seemed like…the way I dress might have caused him to
misunderstand the nature of our relationship…"
"That's got nothing to do with it. The little punk took one look at the
size of your chest and jumped to his own conclusions."
There was a reason Vierra dressed like she did. The woman had been
an ordinary adventurer back in Fittoa, but the Displacement Incident had left
her stranded on the Millis Continent without any equipment to speak of. She
was quickly captured by a gang of bandits who treated her as their plaything.
It was the kind of nightmare that would leave most people broken, but she'd
managed to put it behind her through sheer willpower.
However, we'd also taken in a girl who hadn't bounced back so
quickly: her sister Shierra. Even now, Shierra trembled uncontrollably every
time a man so much as looked at her. And we had a number of similar cases
in our squad.
In order to protect them from unwanted attention, Vierra had started
wearing a deliberately skimpy suit of armor to draw male eyes in her
direction. She was also the member of our squad most adept at comforting
and caring for women who'd been subjected to that sort of trauma. As a man
with no way of understanding that specific kind of pain, I considered her an
indispensable part of the team.
We didn't have a sexual relationship, of course. The idea was
ridiculous.
"It wasn't your fault. We clear?"
"…Yes, sir."
Still looking a bit dejected, Vierra got up and shuffled back over to the
table where the other girls were sitting. Looking around the room a bit more
carefully than before, I noticed that more than a few people were watching
me with obvious concern in their eyes.
"Oh, for crying out loud… Don't look at me like that, you morons! I'll
make up with him tomorrow, all right?!"
I pushed back my chair, stood up, and stomped out of the bar.
When I'd returned to my room at the inn, I found Norn already asleep.
I poured myself a cup of water from the pitcher on our table and
quickly drank the whole thing. The lukewarm fluid coursed its way down into
my churning stomach.
I could feel myself gradually sobering up. I'd always had a high
tolerance for alcohol; I did get plastered when I drank a lot, but the effects
never seemed to last too long. As the fog in my head slowly began to clear, I
looked down at my daughter, who was curled up in bed clutching her blanket,
and stroked her gently on the head.
I felt sorry for Norn. I really did. With a father like me, she had to have
plenty of complaints, but she always kept them to herself and tried her very
best to smile. If I ever lost her, I wouldn't have the strength to go on living.
"Mm… Daddy…"
Norn shifted around in bed just a little. It didn't seem like I'd woken
her; she was probably just sleep-talking.
Norn wasn't like Rudy. She was an ordinary child. I had to keep her
safe.
Suddenly, an odd thought occurred to me: If Rudy had been an
"ordinary" kid as well, wouldn't he be sleeping in this room with Norn right
now? He would have stayed home with us instead of going off to be a tutor.
And at the moment of the disaster, he might have been tugging at my sleeve,
asking if he could hug Norn, too.
If Rudy had been ordinary—a normal eleven-year-old—wouldn't I
look at him the same way I looked at Norn? As someone I needed to protect?
My legs trembled underneath me. I finally understood why Geese had
told me "He's still a kid."
What difference did it make if Rudy was ordinary or not? How did that
even matter? What if Norn had been the genius? Would I have spoken to her
like that? If Norn had come back to me after going on an adventure, knowing
nothing of what had taken place…would I have told her I expected more?
Once I started thinking about that, I couldn't fall asleep. I didn't even
want to lie down in bed. I left our inn, found a fire bucket full of water
outside, and dumped a whole jug's worth over my head.
And then, remembering the look on Rudy's face as he left the bar, I
bent over and vomited.
Refresh my memory, Paul. Who was it who hurt the kid that badly?
Looking down into that fire bucket, I saw the face of a total idiot.
Whoever this dumbass was, he was obviously the last man in the world who
had any business calling himself a father.
"Ah, shit. This might be tough…"
If I was in his kid's shoes, I'd cut ties without a second thought.
[Rudeus]
The next morning, I sat down to breakfast in a relatively decent
mood.
We'd just walked over to the bar next to the inn. The food in
Millishion was definitely tasty. Our meals had been getting better and better
as we traveled toward it from the Great Forest. This morning, we had freshly
baked bread, some sort of lightly flavored clear soup, a simple vegetable
salad, and thick slices of bacon. Not bad at all.
While I hadn't had any last night, apparently dinner here came with an
actual dessert. It was a specific kind of sweet jelly that was very popular with
young adventurers lately, having earned a mention in a recent popular ballad
about a youthful magician's adventures. That was something to look forward to, at least. It's always nice to get
some decent food in your belly. Getting hungry makes you irritated. Getting
irritated ruins your appetite. And a ruined appetite just gets you hungrier.
That's a classic vicious circle right there. It's enough to make an android
cranky.
"…C'mon in."
As I reflected on these matters while sipping a coffee-like after-meal
drink, the barkeep turned his attention to the entrance. A weary, pale-faced
man stood in the doorway. When I saw his face, I flinched reflexively.
He looked around the place for a moment, then spotted me.
In that moment, all the emotions I'd experienced yesterday came
surging back to the surface. Even though he hadn't said a word to me, I found
myself averting my eyes to the floor.
From my reaction alone, the two people I was sitting with seemed to
realize who the man in the entrance had to be. Ruijerd furrowed his brow;
Eris kicked her chair back and rose to her feet.
"Who are you supposed to be?"
The man started walking over toward us, but Eris had planted herself
squarely in his path. With her arms folded, her feet wide apart, and her chin
up in the air, she glared at the man sternly—despite the fact that he was two
heads taller than her.
"I'm Paul Greyrat…his father."
"I know that!"
As I stared at Eris' back, Paul spoke over her head in a wryly amused
voice. "What's going on, Rudy? You hiding behind girls now? What a little
playboy."
Something about those words—or maybe his tone—relieved me just a
little. It reminded me of the way he used to tease me back in the day. Those
were nice memories.
I decided that Paul was trying to bridge the gap that had opened up
between us. He'd gone out of his way to find me here first thing in the
morning, after all. I was calm enough to at least try and have a conversation.
"Rudeus isn't hiding behind me! I'm hiding him! From his failure of a
father!" Balling her hands into fists, Eris quivered with fury. It looked like
she was about ready to take a swing at Paul's chin.
I shot a glance over at Ruijerd. Apparently sensing what I wanted, he
grabbed Eris by the scruff of her neck and lifted her up off the floor.
"Hey! Let me go, Ruijerd!"
"We should leave the two of them alone."
"You saw Rudeus last night, didn't you?! That man has no right to call
himself a father!"
"Don't be so harsh on him. Most fathers are far from perfect."
Ruijerd headed for the exit, carrying a struggling Eris with him. But as
he passed by Paul, he paused for just a moment. "You have every right to say
your piece. But the only reason that you can is that your son is still alive."
"Uh…yeah…"
Ruijerd's words carried some real weight. He did seem to consider
himself the world's single greatest failure as a father. Maybe he felt some
sympathy for a fellow screw-up.
"You really shouldn't order people around with a jerk of your chin,
Rudy."
"You've got it all wrong, Father," I protested. "That was pure eye
contact. My chin wasn't even involved."
"Not sure that really makes a difference," said Paul, seating himself
across the table from me. "So, was that the demon guy you were telling me
about yesterday…?"
"Yes. That's Ruijerd of the Superd tribe."
"The Superd, huh? Seems like a friendly enough guy. I guess the
rumors must have been a bit exaggerated."
"You're not afraid of him or anything?"
"Don't be stupid. He's the man who saved my son."
He didn't seem to think so yesterday, but…it probably wouldn't be too
helpful to point that out. Now then…
"So anyway. Can I ask why you're here?"
My voice came out stiffer than I'd intended, and Paul flinched in his
seat. "Uh…well, I wanted to say I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Everything that happened yesterday."
"There's no need to apologize." It was useful that he was willing to do
so, but after a good night's sleep on Eris' chest, I was ready to own up to the
mistakes I'd made. "To be honest, I really was playing around up until now."
Things had been a little dicey at the start, true. But for the most part
our journey had gone smoothly, and I'd found plenty of time to indulge in
various perversions. The fact that I never got around to gathering information
on the Fittoa Region was, without a doubt, a failure on my part. I never had a
chance to poke around in Zant Port, but we'd spent a decent amount of time
in Wind Port. I could have found some sort of information broker there and
learned more about the Calamity.
I didn't look into something that I really should have. That was sloppy
and thoughtless of me.
"It's understandable that you were angry with me, Father. I'm sorry as
well… I can't imagine how hectic things must have been for you."
The entire Fittoa Region had been "displaced," and our family
scattered to the winds. When I thought about how Paul must have felt in the
days and weeks that followed, I couldn't bring myself to blame him for his
harsh attitude. I'd been traveling in a bubble of cluelessness, happily ignorant
of the ongoing tragedy all around me.
"Don't talk like that, Rudy. I know you must have had a hard time out
there, too."
"No, that isn't true at all. It was honestly a piece of cake." Ruijerd had
been there for me, after all. After our bumpy start in Rikarisu, things had
gone comparatively smoothly. Our bodyguard ensured that monsters never
ambushed us. He'd hunted down our dinner without being asked to, and even
stepped in when Eris and I got into fights. For me, at least, the journey had
been virtually stress-free. The word "cakewalk" sounded about right.
"Oh yeah? A piece of cake, huh…?" I didn't know what Paul was
thinking at the moment, of course. But for some reason, his voice was
trembling slightly.
"I do feel bad that I never saw your message, by the way. What was it
about?"
"I just said that I was fine, and asked you to search the northern part of
the Central Continent."
"I see. Well, I can head there to look around once I drop Eris off back
in the Fittoa Region."
Why was I talking like a robot? Everything I said right now came out
sounding weirdly tense. It almost felt like I was anxious. But why would I
be? I'd forgiven Paul, and he'd forgiven me. Things definitely weren't the
same as before, but this was an emergency situation, right? And everyone
gets tense in an emergency. Sure. That made sense.
"Putting that aside for now, could you go into a little more detail about
the current situation in the Fittoa Region?"
"Yeah, sure thing." Paul's voice was just as stiff as mine and quavered
slightly every time he spoke. Was he on edge as well?
No, no. I should try to figure out my own behavior first. There really
was something odd about this… I couldn't seem to act the way I usually did.
How had I spoken with Paul before this? We used to be pretty casual
with each other, didn't we?
"Let's see. Where do I even start…?"
His voice still tense, Paul gave me a thorough summary of what had
happened back in Fittoa while I was gone. Every building in the region had
disappeared, and every resident had been teleported to some random corner
of the planet. Many deaths had already been confirmed, and many more
people were still unaccounted for.
Paul described how he had recruited volunteers for the Search and
Rescue Squad and molded them into a functional organization. He'd chosen
to base their operations in Millishion because it was home to the
Adventurers' Guild headquarters and a good central spot from which to
gather information. The squad had another base of operations in the capital of the Kingdom
of Asura, and the former butler Alphonse ran things there. Alphonse was also
the overall leader of the organization, and was actively providing aid to the
refugees who'd made it back to the Fittoa Region.
Paul also explained that he'd left messages for me in cities all around
the world. He'd been hoping that we could split up and search for the missing
members of our family separately.
As the oldest and most independent of his children, it probably had
been my responsibility to help. I was still a child, yes, but I had the mind of
an adult. If I'd actually seen Paul's message, it would have stirred me to
action.
Zenith, Lilia, and Aisha were all missing. And it was entirely possible
I'd passed by one of them somewhere on the Demon Continent. That was just
a fact, and it was enough to make me regret everything I'd done there. I'd
been in such a hurry that we rarely stayed in a single town for more than a
few days.
"Norn was all right, though?"
"Yeah, we got lucky there. She was touching me when it happened."
According to Paul, that was just how teleportation magic worked in
general—if you were in physical contact with someone when it hit you, you'd
be sent to your destination together.
"Is she doing well?"
"Yeah. She seemed a little uneasy about moving to such an unfamiliar
place at first, but now she's basically the squad mascot."
"Really? That's good to hear."
At least Norn was safe and happy. That was definitely the one silver
lining in this whole ugly mess. It was something worth celebrating, for sure.
But for whatever reason, I was still feeling kind of gloomy.
"…"
"…"
Our conversation ground to a halt. This felt weirdly…awkward. Paul
and I weren't like this before, were we? What happened to the way we used to crack jokes and banter with each other? Very peculiar.
After a while, Paul said something or other, but I couldn't manage
much of a response.
My replies grew increasingly brief and listless.
At some point, all the other customers had filtered out of the bar.
Before too long, we'd probably be asked to leave so they could get ready for
the lunch rush.
I guess Paul picked up on that as well. He moved on to our final major
topic.
"What are you planning to do next, Rudy?"
"First of all, I'm going to take Eris back to the Fittoa Region."
"There's not much of anything left in Fittoa, you know?"
"I know. But we're still going."
Even though Philip, Sauros, and Ghislaine were still missing, and we
probably wouldn't find any familiar faces waiting for us, we had to go.
Getting back there had always been our objective, after all. We'd follow
through on our initial goal. And once we arrived in Fittoa, we could witness
its state with our own eyes.
After that, I could head up to search the northern part of the Central
Continent…or maybe even ask Ruijerd to help me get all the way back to the
Demon Continent. Hell, I could even try heading to the Begaritt Continent. I
did know the language, more or less. "After that, I'll start searching other
parts of the world."
"…All right."
With that, the conversation petered out again. I had no idea what else
there was to say.
"Here." At this point, the barkeep abruptly thumped two wooden cups
down in front of us. Tendrils of steam rose gently from the liquid inside
them. "That's on the house."
"Oh. Thank you." Now that I thought about it, my throat was painfully
dry.
Once I realized that, I also noticed a few other things. I'd been clenching my hands tightly; my palms were damp with sweat. My back and
my armpits also felt oddly chilly. And my forelocks were plastered to my
forehead.
"Hey, kid. I won't pretend I know what's goin' on here, but…"
"Hm…?"
"At least look the guy in the face."
It was only when I heard those words that it hit me. I'd been avoiding
Paul's gaze this entire time. After averting my eyes when he walked in, I
hadn't looked him in the face again. Not even once.
Swallowing anxiously, I looked up at my father. His face was full of
uncertainty and angst. He looked like a man on the verge of breaking down in
tears.
"Why are you making that face?"
"What face?" said Paul, smiling weakly.
With his listless expression and hollow cheeks, he looked like a
completely different person from the man I'd known before. But for some
reason, I felt like I'd seen a very similar face somewhere before. Where was
that? I had the feeling it was a long time ago…
…Now I remembered.
I'd seen it in the bathroom mirror, back in my old house.
This would have been a year or two after I'd become a total shut-in. At
that point, I still thought I had time to turn things around. But I was also
aware that there was a growing gap between me and everyone I knew—one
that I might never be able to bridge.
Still, I was simply too afraid to go outside again. And so, feelings of
anxiety and frustration steadily built up inside me. It was probably the single
most emotionally volatile period of my life.
I see. So that's how it is…
Paul had searched desperately for his family with no success. For all
his efforts, he hadn't found a single scrap of news for ages. He worried about
us constantly. And eventually, he started to ask himself: What if they're hurt?
What if they fell ill? What if they're already dead? The more he thought about it, the more worried he grew.
And then, at long last, I showed up…with a cheerful smile on my face.
It was so very different from what Paul had imagined that he grew irritated
despite himself.
I'd once experienced something similar. Not long after I began my life
as a loser, somebody I knew from junior high stopped by to visit and started
to tell me about what was going on at school. I was deeply depressed and in
so much pain, but he talked about his life like he didn't have a single care in
the world. It made my stomach hurt. I ended up snapping and hurling harsh
insults at him.
The day after that, I told myself that I'd apologize to him the next time
he dropped by. But he never came over again. And I didn't reach out to him,
either. I let some sort of stubborn pride hold me back.
I remembered now. That was exactly when I'd seen that face in the
mirror.
"I've got a proposal, Father."
"What…?"
"Under these circumstances, I think we need to try and act like
grownups."
"Uh, yeah, I guess I wasn't too mature yesterday… I'm not sure what
you're getting at, though."
The gloom inside my heart was melting rapidly away. I finally
understood how Paul felt now. Once I had that piece of the puzzle, the rest
was simple enough, really.
I thought back to the past again—to the day Paul had chewed me out
for fighting, and I'd fired back sharp words of my own. At the time, I'd been
less than impressed with his parenting skills. But he was only twenty-four
then, very young for a father, so I decided not to judge him too harshly.
It had been six years since then. Paul was now thirty years old. He was
still a good bit younger than I had been in my previous life, and he'd already
accomplished more than I ever had. When I'd fought with my friend, I didn't
even try to patch things up. I just found ways to convince myself that it was
all his fault. By comparison, Paul was making a much better effort. I wasn't the same person I was back then. I'd sworn to myself that I
was going to change, hadn't I? I'd forgotten about that lately, but I couldn't
let myself repeat the same stupid mistakes over and over again.
This was a much bigger fight than our last one, yes. But I was behaving
the exact same way I did on that day six years ago. We were both making the
same stupid mistakes all over again. I thought I'd come a long way since
then, but instead, it seemed that I'd been treading water. I had to
acknowledge that.
And more importantly, I had to take a real step forward.
"Let's pretend yesterday never happened."
It was a simple enough proposal. I was deeply hurt by what Paul said
to me in that bar. The pain had been almost unendurable. My friend, who'd
stopped by out of concern for me, must have felt something similar when I
pushed him away. And that was how things ended. We never saw each other
again.
It wasn't going to turn out that way this time. I wouldn't let my bond
with Paul be broken.
"The two of us didn't have a fight yesterday. Right now, in this
moment, we're seeing each other again for the first time in years. Got it?"
"What are you talking about, Rudy?"
"Don't overthink this, please. Just spread your arms open wide. Go
on!"
"Uh…okay…" Paul spread his arms, looking a little dubious.
I promptly threw myself into them. "Father! I've missed you so much!"
His body smelled faintly of alcohol. He seemed to be sober right now,
but I wouldn't have been surprised if he was still nursing a hangover. When
had he started drinking so heavily, anyway? I felt like he'd barely touched the
stuff back in the day.
"R-Rudy?" Paul didn't seem to know how to react.
Resting my chin on his shoulder, I slowly murmured a little advice.
"C'mon. You've just been reunited with your son. Isn't there anything you
want to say?"
This was all a bit ridiculous, yes. But even so, I hugged Paul's solidly
built body with all my might. It wasn't just his face that had gotten thinner.
His body felt like it was a size or two smaller than it was before. Of course,
I'd done some growing in the last few years, so that probably had something
to do with it; but it was obvious that my father had been through some very
hard times.
After a moment's hesitation, Paul managed to mumble "I…I missed
you too."
And once he got those first words out, it was as if the floodgates
opened. "I missed you too, Rudy… I missed you so damn much! I searched
and searched, but I couldn't find anybody… I started thinking you might be
dead… I started…picturing you…"
When I looked up at Paul again, tears were streaming down his cheeks.
It wasn't exactly a pretty picture. The man was sobbing like a baby. "I'm
sorry… I'm so sorry, Rudy…"
Well, great. Now he's got me going too.
I patted the back of Paul's head a few times. For a while, the two of us
just cried together.
And so, for the first time in five years, I was finally reunited with my
father.