Chapter 68: Welcome Home

The moment the carriage stopped, Elias hopped down first. Then he stood right beside the carriage door and held out his right hand.

Evelyn saw it and quickly took his hand before stepping down. Once her feet touched the ground, it was Elysia’s turn. She accepted Elias’s help too as she got off the carriage. As soon as both girls were down, the carriage started rolling away again.

Elias then turned his gaze to the villagers who’d already gathered. They were waving and shouting his name with all the energy they had.

"Elias!"

"Welcome back!"

"Welcome home, Elias!"

"We missed you, kid!"

Hearing that welcome, Elias could only snort a little. But the happy smile on his face couldn’t be hidden.

"Geez, you guys are seriously..."

He shook his head, holding back his laughter. Those voices felt so familiar. Without even realizing it, he felt like he’d never left this village in the first place.

Before long, the Village Chief walked up to him with a wide grin.

"Welcome back, Elias."

"Village Chief!~"

The second he saw the old man, Elias rushed over and hugged him tight. The hug was so strong the Village Chief could barely breathe.

"Let go of me, you brat! I’m not as young as you!"

"But I missed you, Village Chief! Can I hug you a little longer? I even missed the smell of dirt stuck to your clothes!"

"You little punk! I just took a bath!"

Hearing Elias tease him, the villagers burst out laughing.

"Hahaha!"

"That kid never changes!"

"Even now, he still loves making the Village Chief mad."

Finally, the Village Chief managed to break free from Elias’s hug. He stumbled back a few steps, panting and clutching his chest.

"Brat! Can’t you be a little more respectful to an old man like me? You almost crushed my bones!"

"Haha... S-sorry, Village Chief."

Elias scratched his head with an awkward smile. But before he could say anything else, someone suddenly smacked his back, hard.

*Thwack!

*Cough!

"Hahahaha!"

The slap was so strong that Elias started coughing. It felt like his breakfast from this morning almost came back up.

"Nice! Nice! Your body’s way stronger and sturdier than before!"

Elias turned around and found Randolf laughing wide behind him.

"Ugh! You gotta quit smacking my back so hard, Uncle Randolf."

"Huh? Why? It’s fun! Hahahaha!"

*Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

Instead of stopping, Randolf slapped Elias’s back a few more times with the exact same strength.

*Cough! Cough! Cough!

"Ugh! That hurts, you know!"

Elias finally snapped at him, bending over a little. But Randolf and the people around them only laughed even harder.

"Hahaha!"

Elias let out a long sigh. He looked at them with an annoyed face, like he couldn’t believe he had to get a welcome like this after being gone for so long.

"I literally just got back. Why does it feel like I’m getting bullied..."

Just as he was about to wipe the leftover drool at the corner of his lips, a hand suddenly reached out and wiped the spot with a handkerchief.

"Oh my god, Big Bro. Haven’t I told you a million times to always use a handkerchief when you wipe your mouth? You’re the Caretaker of noble young ladies! You should act more professional. Why do I always have to remind you about something this simple?"

Elias raised his face to see who the voice belonged to. A girl with long, loose black hair, a few strands stuck to her forehead from sweat. A pair of blood-red eyes stared at him with an expression he knew really well.

She was still the same.

Even after months of not seeing each other, her habit of nagging Elias hadn’t changed at all.

But it wasn’t her nagging that kept Elias staring. He was paying more attention to the face in front of him, the smile that always felt so familiar, and the gentle voice that didn’t even change when she was scolding him.

Maybe she’d been waiting for him for quite a while. There was a bit of sweat on her forehead, but she still stood there, busy fixing up Elias’s appearance.

During the trip, Elias had imagined how their reunion would go. There were so many things he wanted to tell her, and so many questions he wanted to ask.

But now that she was really standing right in front of him, everything he’d thought up just vanished.

"Big Bro?"

Seeing Elias just standing there and staring at her, the girl tilted her head a little. She seemed to finally realize her brother wasn’t listening to her nagging at all.

Her cheeks puffed up a bit.

"Are you listening?"

She raised her right hand and pulled on Elias’s ear.

"Ow! I’m listening! Sorry, sorry! Let go, that hurts!"

The girl sighed before finally letting go of his ear.

Elias grabbed it right away, wincing in pain.

"Seriously. You still space out all the time," she grumbled.

But a moment later, the girl smiled again. This time, her smile looked a little different from before.

"I missed you, Big Bro."

Elias looked at Mira for a few seconds before a smile slowly showed up on his face. Then he smiled back at his sister.

"I missed you too, Mira."

Without waiting any longer, Elias opened both arms and pulled her into a tight hug.

Mira was startled for a moment before finally hugging her brother back. Both of her arms wrapped around Elias’s body, while she slowly buried her face in his chest.

She tried to hold back the tears building at the corners of her eyes, but in the end, a few drops still fell.

Mira didn’t say anything more, and neither did Elias.

For a while, the two of them just held each other in the middle of the crowd of villagers.

Elias closed his eyes. He only just realized how much he’d missed something this simple. Being able to come back to the village, hearing the voices of people he knew, and most of all, hugging his own little sister.

Mira Veyron.

The only blood family he had in this world.

After so long, he could finally be by her side again.

Before long, a few more villagers started walking up to the two of them.

"Welcome back, Elias."

Hearing Aunt Centipede’s voice, Elias finally let go of Mira and turned toward the woman.

"Aunt Centipede..."

Elias just smiled a little while scratching his head.

"Are you really Elias? Why do you look taller than before?"

Hearing Aunt Potato talk like that, Elias immediately turned to her with a snort and thumped his chest proudly.

"I’m a man! Of course my body’s gotta be like this!"

Hearing Elias’s answer, Aunt Potato giggled. Then she came closer and lifted her hand to touch Elias’s cheek.

"Welcome back, Elias."

Elias lowered his head a little so Aunt Potato could reach his cheek more easily. Then he snorted softly before smiling at her.

"I’m home, Auntie."

"Hahaha! Elias, you’re back! You still remember us?"

"I thought you weren’t coming back. If you didn’t, I was gonna go straight to the Marquis’s mansion and kick your butt!"

Elias turned to the side, toward a bunch of men with barbarian looks, wearing clothes mostly made from monster hide.

"How could I ever forget weirdos like you guys?"

Hearing Elias, one of the men burst out laughing.

"Hahaha, right! We’re weird!"

"No. Only you’re weird."

"Yeah! Don’t drag us into something like that."

"I’m the most normal one here."

These men were the ones Elias usually called the Hunter Uncles and the Guard Uncles.

Why did Elias call them that? Even he didn’t know for sure. Ever since he first woke up in this world, he’d already gotten used to calling them "Hunter Uncles" or "Guard Uncles".

Maybe it was because they loved hunting in the hills. On top of that, they also took care of guarding the village from monsters and bandits.

Elias just let out a small sigh before smiling faintly, a bit of sweat on his face.

"You guys are still the same."

While Elias was laughing at the Hunter Uncles’ antics, Aunt Centipede suddenly nudged him with her elbow.

"Hey, kid. Who are these two girls? Your girlfriends? You’re a greedy one, you little rascal."

Evelyn and Elysia’s faces instantly turned red when they were called Elias’s girlfriends.

’G-girlfriends... We’re...’

"Hoo~" Uncle Randolf looked at Evelyn and Elysia while rubbing his chin, then said, "Not bad, Elias."

"Am I about to get grandkids soon?" the Village Chief said, laughing.

Then Aunt Potato added, touching her cheek with one hand.

"Elias’s charm is scary. To the point he can win over two pretty girls like them."

"I-it’s not like that, Auntie..."

"Hahaha! Nice one, Elias! If you marry them, we’ll hunt the biggest monster we can find for the wedding feast!"

"Right!"

"We’ll hunt two, since you’ve got two wives!"

At first, Elias didn’t really care about their teasing over him bringing two girlfriends. But when the uncles started talking about his wedding with Evelyn and Elysia, Elias’s face turned red.

Feeling that if this misunderstanding wasn’t cleared up soon, things could get ugly, Elias cleared his throat first, then pointed at Evelyn and Elysia before he started talking.

"Let me introduce them. They’re the Marquis’s daughters, Evelyn Nocturne and her twin sister, Elysia Nocturne."

With her face still a little flushed, Evelyn smiled at the villagers while elegantly lifting her skirt a bit.

"N-nice to meet you~"

Elysia’s face was still flushed too. She lifted her skirt a little as well before speaking in a small voice.

"I-I’m Elysia..."

When the two girls finished greeting the villagers, Aunt Centipede suddenly came closer and looked at both their faces.

"I’m even more shocked now. You actually managed to win over the Marquis’s daughters, Elias."

Hearing Aunt Centipede, Evelyn and Elysia’s faces got even redder. Meanwhile, Elysia was starting to look annoyed because that woman was teasing her again. Aunt Centipede went on,

"The competition must be crazy. I mean, they’re the Marquis’s daughters."

The villagers burst into loud laughter again. Feeling like explaining anything was pointless, Elias just let out a long sigh and slapped his forehead.

Then he chose to focus on Mira, who’d been laughing at him this whole time. Noticing Elias looking at her, Mira immediately stopped laughing and put on a smile like nothing had happened.

"Ah, Big Bro! Let’s go inside. You guys must all be tired."

She then moved up to Elias’s left side.

Mira tried to take her brother’s hand, but her fingers found nothing.

She frowned for a moment, then tried again, reaching for the part covered by gray cloth on the left side of Elias’s clothes.

But this time too, she didn’t feel any hand to hold.

Mira lifted her face a little. Her gaze moved to that spot before finally looking at Elias with a confused expression.

Elias, noticing his sister’s behavior, tilted his head too.

"What’s wrong, Mi—"

His words got cut off when Mira suddenly grabbed the gray cloth covering that spot and pulled it open.

Mira’s eyes went wide. Her pupils shrank when she saw what was hidden behind the cloth.

"...Big... Bro..."

A moment later, blood-red energy burst out from inside Mira.

*Boom!

A wave of overwhelming energy exploded around her body. Red flames shot up high, wrapping Mira in a wildly raging blaze. In an instant, the air around her shook violently, followed by a whirlwind that swept across the whole area.

Elias got pushed back a few steps by the energy Mira was giving off. He stared at his sister, confused and worried at the same time.

’What’s wrong with her?’

* * *