Paul was staying at a place called the Dawn Door Inn. We decided to sit down for a meal at the bar next door so we could catch up.
The bar was packed full. Most of the people here had their eyes glued on Paul and I, making me a little uncomfortable. They must be part of the Fittoa Region's search group.
"So.. Uh. Rudy. What happened to your arm? Are you doing ok?", Paul asked awkwardly.
"Yeah, I'm doing fine. We were ambushed in the Great Forest, and I lost my arm fighting to protect my friends."
"I see."
Paul had tears welling up in his eyes once again. Seeing me with only one arm, he began to feel like he was a failure of a father.
"That's why I came to Milishion. I heard they have the best healers in the world in this city. I was hoping one of them could restore my missing arm."
"Oh. That's true!" Paul perked up. "We should be able to find someone to heal you here. Let's go put up a notice in the Adventurer's Guild."
That surprised me. Such a simple solution and I never thought of it. Perhaps I won't be needing the Latreia's help after all.
"By the way, Father, how are Mother, Norn and Aisha doing?"
"They are all fine. Thankfully we were all sent to the same place together. It was truly a miracle. Lilia is there too. She is helping take care of the family in my absence."
I sighed in relief. I know I took them all to Sharia together, but it is still good to know nothing bad happened to them.
"So, what happened to you? Where have you been all this time?"
"I was sent along with Eris to the Demon Continent. We were lost and had no idea what was going on, but thankfully a wandering Superd found us and guided us all the way here, protecting us from monsters along the way."
"A Superd!?", Vierra exclaimed. She was eavesdropping on our conversation from an adjacent table.
Paul didn't even flinch. He just stayed silent, waiting for me to finish.
I spent the next hour describing our entire adventure from the last year and a half. I told him about Ruijerd, our time in Rikarisu, the journey across the vast Demon Continent, our time in Zant Port and the Great Forest, where we rescued beast children from a bunch of smugglers, all the way up to our arrival in Milishion, and how came to reach out to my grandparents here, thinking they may know someone who could cast King ranked healing magic to heal my left arm.
Paul was surprised to hear that Elinalise and Tallhand had joined Roxy to help find me.
"I'll have to apologize and thank them once we meet", Paul said, looking a bit downcast.
"Make sure you do. They both seem to have such bad impressions of you, father. What did you do to them to make them so angry?"
"Um. It's a long story... I'll have to tell you some other time", he said looking to the side.
I guess that means he doesn't want to tell me, haha. Well, I'm not going to let him off the hook that easily, I'll make sure to bother him about it more later.
"Now what about you, father? What have you been up to since you sent me off to tutor Eris?"
Paul then took his turn recalling what had happened since we last met. Life continued peacefully for them in Buena Village, with Sylphy often stopping by for healing magic lessons from Zenith.
One day, out of nowhere, they all woke up in a strange room in an unknown land. Shockingly, Laws and his family were there too. Even stranger, Phillip and his wife were in the room next door.
Nobody knew what happened, but thankfully there was a bag of ten Asura gold coins in each room, so at least they had enough money to not have to worry about living expenses.
Paul spent the next couple days figuring out where they were at and what had happened. He learned that he was in the magic city of Sharia in the Northern Region. Nobody he talked to seemed to know what had happened to him and his family.
It wasn't until about a week later when Paul overheard someone at the Adventurer's Guild talking about a crazy person being sold at the slave market who claims they were from Buena Village and teleported across the world. He immediately rushed to the market and inquired about the slave.
Paul immediately recognized the slave as one of the farmers from Buena Village, named Bragg. Bragg claimed that about a week ago, he saw a brilliant blue flash and the next thing he knew he was waking up in a pile of snow in a place he'd never seen before.
Paul purchased the slave to grant him his freedom, and after bringing him back to their Inn to discuss that matter with Zenith and Lilia, the start of the Fittoa Region search group was formed.
Paul left Sharia to search for me and others who were displaced along with Laws and Bragg.
Once he reached the refugee camp, which was just beginning to form around Alphonse's leadership, Paul confirmed that Rudeus had not made it there as of yet. While doing so, he met up with Roxy, who agreed to help him search for Rudeus.
As Paul made his way south towards Milis, he rescued as many displaced refugees as possible. Some of them joined his search group along the way, while others traveled north to the refugee camp.
Upon reaching the Holy City of Milishion, Paul first went to the Adventurer's Guild to post his letter to Rudeus, as he did in each city. After seeing that there was no letter from Rudeus, he then got a couple rooms at the Dawn Door Inn for himself and the search group.
"That leads us to today", Paul said.
"I went to the Latreia household to let them know you were missing, and ask for help searching for you. After speaking with Claire, I discovered that not only did they know you were missing, but one of their guards noticed a letter from you posted at the Adventurer's Guild at the city."
"I was wondering why you didn't see my letters. I had written a bunch and paid to have them delivered ahead of me to all the cities on the way back home."
Paul scowled when I said this.
"Yes, so I've heard."
"The guard was ordered to remove the posting at the guild and bring it back to the Latreia household. Claire was horrified when she read that you were traveling with a demon. Not only a demon, but supposedly a Superd."
"She ordered me to keep this quiet so it didn't damage the Latreia name. That's when I lost my cool and it turned into a heated argument. She was more worried about her damn reputation than the life of her own grandson", Paul said as he gritted his teeth.
"Yeah, I think I overheard the last part of that."
"Haha yeah. I still can't believe you were standing right there. Right outside the door."
"Well, father, don't beat yourself up about it. What's done is done. It's a shame that Grandmother is like that, but honestly it's no loss to me. I've never even met her."
Paul gave me a halfhearted smile, knowing I was trying to console him.
"Why don't we head over to my Inn?", I said, trying to change the subject. "It's getting late, and everyone should be back by now."
"That's true." Paul turned over to the adjacent table, "Vierra, Shierra."
"Y-Yes", Vierra replied somewhat surprised.
"Let everyone who isn't here know what happened. I'm going with Rudy to meet some friends."
"Yes sir", Vierra replied. Shierra gave him a quick bow.
Our Inn was fairly close by. Once we got back, we saw that everyone else had returned as well.
Elinalise and Tallhand acted annoyed to see Paul at first, but once he sincerely apologized, they forgave him quickly.
We then knocked on the door to Eris and Ruijerd's room to introduce them to Paul.
"Who are you?", Eris inquired.
"I'm Paul Greyrat. Rudy's father."
Eris looked a bit surprised at first, but quickly recovered and gave a proper noble greeting. Honestly I'm somewhat surprised she remembered that after all this time.
"I am Eris Boreas Greyrat."
Paul flinched slightly as Ruijerd walked up from the side and reached out to shake his hand.
"I am Ruijerd Superdia. It is an honor to meet you."
"No, it is my honor to meet you. Thank you so much for taking care of my son."
"Truth be told, now that I have gotten to know him, I think he may have been fine on his own. Rudeus is smart, resourceful, and an exceptionally talented magician. Even if he is a little too arrogant for his own good."
Ruijerd shot me a smirking glance as he said the last sentence. I couldn't help but give a wry smile.
Tallhand brought some drinks for the adults as we all sat around the table in our room and stayed up late catching up with one another and telling stories of the past.
The next morning, Paul, Eris, Ruijerd, and I walked to the Adventurer's Guild to post a request for a King tier magician to heal my left arm.
The clerk informed us that, while we could feel free to make the posting, she didn't expect anyone to take that job anytime soon. There were only two King tier healers in the entire city, and neither of them serviced the public.
One of them exclusively served the Pope, and the other worked directly under the Cardinal.
Paul was dismayed when he heard that, thinking we would have no chance to talk to either the Pope or the Cardinal, until suddenly, Ruijerd interjected.
"Actually, I have an acquaintance who might be able to help get you a meeting with the Pope."
"Wait really?", Paul asked. "What is his position?"
"I'm not sure, but when I went to visit him today, he had many men serving under him. I think he is a leader here."
'That's right!', I thought. 'I forgot about Ruijerd's friend, the Commander of the Missionary Knights.'
"Well, if he could schedule a meeting, that would be nice", I said.
"I'll stop by again today and ask him", Ruijerd answered.