Chapter 372: The Rift (4)

I couldn’t comprehend what I was seeing. Even after blinking and scanning my surroundings again, the person standing clearly before me was Rubia Ray. She was the human who first raised me from my cold grave.

My voice trembled. "You... What are you doing here? Were you... living in Erast all this time, just like before?"

The warmth of the necromancer who had once spoken to me in the dark now resonated again through my bones. The smile that had crumbled countless times in front of me now shone flawlessly, untouched by sorrow. It felt familiar and yet impossible to grow accustomed to.

"Yes! That’s right. I’m the lord now."

The lord? Wasn’t Erast under the Chandler family’s rule?

I muttered, "That’s..."

Does that even matter anymore?

The air was thick with the scent of incense. Rubia stood right before me, and I let all my scattered questions fade into oblivion. Every doubt, thin as a root, was uprooted and carried away by a spring breeze.

I gazed at her, trying to truly see her amid the sun-washed scene. Our eyes met. Her lips moved, but her words blurred in my ears.

Thud! Thud!

The ground shook with heavy footfalls. A minotaur the size of a house charged toward Rubia with a massive double-bladed axe strapped to its waist.

Zing!

I drew my sword and stepped between them.

"Don’t worry," Rubia said, raising a hand. "He’s the captain of the guard."

"The captain? A minotaur is your captain of the guard?"

"Yes. It’s a world where everyone lives together now."

"A world... where everyone lives together?"

Nonsense.

Her words made no sense at all. Entranced, I sheathed my blade.

The minotaur came closer and bellowed in a thunderous voice, "My lady! You disappeared without a word! I was worried sick! Is this the one you always speak of?"

"That’s right. You’ve worked hard enough, so I’m taking the day off! Don’t come looking for me," Rubia declared.

"Ah, well... if you say so..."

"Don’t just stand there! Tell the steward as well."

"Y-yes, my lady..."

I watched the minotaur who had charged in so boldly retreat meekly.

Rubia took my hand. The moment I felt her fingers wrap around mine, I realized how empty my hands had been.

"Would you like to see the castle?" Rubia asked.

I nodded. With each step we took, she swayed gently beside me. Her laughter, eyes, and hair all shifted with the light. I tried to absorb the strangeness of it all, but every moment felt too new to process.

"How have you been?" she asked.

"I..."

How have I been?

"I don’t know."

I really didn’t.

She laughed, poking my arm. "How can someone not know how they’ve been?"

At the castle, monsters wandered freely through the halls. Among the maids and guards, there were more non-humans than humans.

Rubia led me to her room. "When’s the last time we had a snowball fight?"

"A snowball fight?"

"You don’t remember? You played with me!"

"I think I just got hit the whole time."

Is that really something to call a game?

Rubia laughed like a child. "Then this spring we’ll go flower viewing. In summer, we’ll go swimming. In autumn, we’ll watch the leaves change."

She rested her hand on my shoulder.

"Is that really necessary?" I started to pull away. "Just seeing you living well is enough for me..."

Rubia didn’t let go.

"Of course, we have to do it together!" she exclaimed.

"What happened to the previous lord?"

"The previous lord? Do you mean my father?"

"Didn’t you have an uncle?"

"An uncle? No, I don’t have one."

No such thing?

The phrase echoed in my head. The scent of incense grew stronger.

"My father was an only child," she said lightly.

Maybe she was right. Maybe there was never an uncle. And maybe there never needed to be. Somehow, that made sense.

"I should throw a party. Everyone’s been waiting for you to arrive, but that can be tomorrow..." She smiled softly. "Stay with me tonight. I have so much to tell you. Please."

We talked through the night. Time seemed to both race by and stretch endlessly, each moment splintering into smaller pieces that lingered. It felt as if the dark waters pooled within me were finally flowing out. Just being near her felt warm.

When morning came, a fiery phoenix burst through the window, its talons slashing the air.

Flap!

Startled, I moved instinctively to shield Rubia, but the bird only dropped a letter from its claws before soaring away.

Rubia read it, then looked up as if remembering something. "Oh! You have somewhere to go! Rena says she’s finished the foundation work!"

"Rena? Here?"

We’d talked all night, yet she’d never mentioned that name.

"Yes! Rena’s living in Erast too. She’s in charge of construction."

"I see..."

I was stunned, because it didn’t fit Rena at all to be doing that.

Rubia explained cheerfully, "She’s incredibly good at connecting with others. That’s why she handles the work that requires cooperation with them."

"What do you mean, them?"

"You’ll see when you get there! She’s in the courtyard inside the north gate. She’s been dying to see you."

Rustle.

Rubia closed her eyes. She must have been exhausted after staying awake all night. I laid her on the bed, drew the curtains twice over, and quietly stepped out.

North gate...

As I walked through the castle, I took note of everything. Nothing seemed threatening. The monstrous guards moved with precise discipline, which was oddly reassuring. When I reached the courtyard by the north gate, I saw them.

"Sasquatches?"

Creatures capable of crushing a man with a flick of a finger loomed over six to seven meters. Four of them worked together to gather massive bricks from the ground and stack them methodically. Layer by layer, they spread thick lines of mortar, interlocking each block in a careful pattern as the wall rose higher. They were building a house. The extremely tall monsters were constructing buildings within a human city with absurd efficiency.

Or... maybe it isn’t even a human city.

I finally understood where my uneasiness had been coming from ever since I arrived in Erast. Many of the homes scattered throughout the streets were far too large for humans to inhabit. The finer finishing work was handled by twin-headed ogres, while other beasts hauled building materials from afar.

Among those colossal creatures, I spotted her. At first, I almost missed her entirely, not because of the overwhelming size of the monsters, but because she wasn’t standing. She was lying on the grass.

Fweeee...

The sound of Rena’s whistle was as familiar as an old wound. She used to blow that whistle after driving her blade through an intruder’s chest and twisting it in their heart. That same careless, lilting tune followed when she planted an arrow into a man’s lungs and watched him choke on blood.

However, there weren't any blood or screams now. She simply gazed at the bright, innocent sky, whistling softly. Where the earth met the heavens, Rena’s silhouette lingered between.

"Re... na?" I stuttered.

Rena turned her head slowly and gasped. "Ah!"

Then, she leaped up and ran toward me, eyes wide in disbelief.

Before I could react, her arms crushed me in an embrace so tight she could have broken my bones.

Fwip!

I didn’t struggle. Rena didn’t say anything either—she only pulled me closer, as though to make the moment last forever.

"I knew you’d come someday," she whispered. "I believed that if I waited long enough, you’d arrive before the very end."

She’d been waiting for me? Since when? For what reason?

The fragrance in the air thickened again. With it, a strange thought arose in my mind.

Maybe it really is possible.

"Do you... remember me?" I asked quietly.

"Of course! I remember everything! We’ve died together so many times, haven’t we? But don’t worry anymore. The world is safe now."

"Them... what are they exactly?"

Rena turned to glance at the giant beasts. "I found it easy to connect with them. We understand each other somehow. They’re good friends who do all the hard work for me."

"I see..."

She smiled brightly. "Why don’t you come to my house first?"

When she waved, the monsters responded immediately, ceasing construction and lumbering away toward the open fields. The home she led me to was warm and familiar. It was almost too familiar.

Inside were her younger siblings from the orphanage and her mother, a woman I’d never seen alive.

That pendant...

The delicate, weary-looking woman wore a necklace I knew well. It was the keepsake Rena had once offered to me again and again.

We talked for two whole days—about the past, about nothing, and about everything.

Then, the fiery bird returned, delivering another letter.

Flap!

Rena skimmed it, then looked up. "The lady’s hosting a party. She says she’s gathered many people who’ve wanted to see you."

The letter didn’t list any names. It was only a simple invitation to come that evening.

"You’ll go, won’t you?" Rena asked.

When evening came, the wind was cool, and the city glowed gold in the sunset. Rena took my arm and led me to the venue, saying the guest of honor should always arrive fashionably late.

As we entered, the open courtyard burst into view, and everyone waiting there... was familiar.

"Whoa! He’s here!"

A wave of cheers erupted. I saw Lime, Chandler, Christina, and Yube. Every one of them was here, including Starlight Blue Fox and Lumen the Werewolf. They all were living peacefully under Rubia’s rule.

So there’s nothing to worry about after all...

They all remembered me, every encounter, and every battle. Even those I’d barely interacted with smiled warmly. They asked questions and expressed their gratitude, eager just to speak with me.

"It’s a bit overwhelming..." I muttered to Rena.

She chuckled. "It can’t be helped. You left behind quite the legend. There are too many people who want to meet you."

"Who else could possibly want to..."

"Marquis Leandro says he wants to meet you."

"What?! That’s ridiculous. Tell him I’m not here."

"Fufufu. If you behave, maybe I will."

I wondered why he wanted to meet me. Even people I’d met only briefly stopped by to greet me, as if paying their respects.

Days passed like that. It felt peaceful, repetitive, and surreal. Until at last, I found some time for myself. There was something I needed to do.

Whoosh!

I told only Rubia and Rena before heading quietly to the mountains. I knew the nearby hills well, as the sunlit ridges were hidden groves known only to me.

This spot should do.

I dug a grave and carefully buried Gith-Za-Rai’s corpse. I hesitated over the dagger. White letters shimmered faintly across its black blade.

When I’d faced Marquis Leandro, it had barely endured a few clashes. Now, the dagger was filled with the power I’d absorbed.

Who knows what it might unleash in a moment of crisis?

If I could master it, perhaps it would manifest the same overwhelming strength I’d once seen in Gith-Za-Rai. The dagger was too valuable to leave behind.

I’ll keep it.

This world seemed perfectly safe, but just in case, I stored all three daggers carefully in my inventory.

If only Gith-Za-Rai were here too... Then again, why did I bury a necromancer’s corpse at all?

A strange sense of unease stirred within me. Memories brushed the edge of recall, but the harder I tried to grasp them, the more it hurt to think.

Thump.

I struck the soil again, burying her deeper, and returned to the city.

Laughter filled the streets, with no signs of trouble anywhere. Even when I patrolled in secret, I found nothing, no crime or conflict. The unease I’d once felt from the Red Flake members helping Rubia rule Erast was now completely gone.

No worries, no tasks, nothing left undone. Sometimes I trained those who asked for guidance, monster or human alike. Sometimes I just read books in the castle or the hills. Peace, steady and still as the afternoon sun, stretched on. The days were pure and transparent, unclouded by even the faintest discomfort.

Would there ever be a need to regress again?

I doubted it. For once, this moment felt like something that could last forever. If there was any trouble left, it was only the awkwardness of how everyone kept trying so hard to please me.

I walked freely in daylight without armor; no one stared or feared me. They greeted me warmly, called me the lord’s guest, and shook my hand with respect.

Gradually, I spent more time in the mountains than in the castle. A little distance from people didn’t hurt. Birds sang. Butterflies and flowers bloomed. The stream murmured quietly under a perfect sky. The storms of the past felt like a lie.

Each morning, I’d sit beneath the sunlight and read one of Ashton’s books.

Vmmm!

[Remaining Stat Points: 74 (New!)]

After finishing all but one of the books in my inventory, my bonus stats reached 74. Along with them returned the knowledge I’d once absorbed, gathering, poisons, terrain adaptation, and even antiques.

It hadn’t been easy. I had nearly read a hundred dense, complex books. However, I’d managed to read them all within two months.

"Is that all?"

I’d read everything except for Seiron’s Efforts to Weaken the Throne.

Swish.

As I stored the final book away, a faint sense of emptiness welled up within me. I sensed that I’d forgotten something I’d once known intimately.

Each time I opened and closed my inventory, the feeling grew stronger, as if something vital—something that mattered—was missing.

However, this world was too peaceful and gentle.

If I could just rest a little longer... bask a little more in this quiet light... stay still just a little...

“Caw!”

The cry of a crow split through the layers of serenity, tearing into the heart of the calm.