That night, I dreamed of the days I spent lost in my old room right after returning to my home country. I don't know how I got through those days, but I managed to live without ever stepping foot outside my house. It was a long, seemingly endless, and indescribably boring period, even though every day I got to watch new anime or read new web novels, laughing and crying at the events unfolding on the screen.
Yet, an overwhelming sense of emptiness and depression always haunted me the moment I lay down.
I suddenly remembered how much I loathed going to sleep. It was completely meaningless.
There were times I actively tried to find ways to stay awake as long as possible, sleeping the absolute minimum while somehow remaining conscious. And I succeeded—during that period, I slept a maximum of four hours a day, sometimes even cutting it down to two.
That gave me more time to watch anime, movies, web novels, manga, or porn. Those things made me happy.
But no matter how much I watched, read, eventually, I had to sleep. And no matter how short that sleep was, it never felt like it was justified.
Because the moment I stopped and rested, I would remember my mistakes. They were like pre-programmed cassette tapes playing my absolute worst moments on a loop. Feelings of helplessness and depression crushed me like invisible mountains, burying me deeper and deeper into despair.
It was so utterly meaningless. That was just how meaningless my life was.
That was how much I despised going to sleep.
…
But then a few things happened, and I found myself in a new world, with a new body, and a new identity.
Here, my name is Atur Notos Greyrat, son of the somewhat eccentric head of the great Notos Greyrat family. However, being the son of a maid, my standing wasn't exactly stellar. My father, for whatever twisted reason, harbored an extreme hatred for me. But regardless of all that, I was still fed, clothed, and lived in a relatively decent environment compared to the impoverished kids out there.
Then, some more things happened; I was no longer a noble and ended up becoming a disciple of the Water God, one of the most powerful individuals in this world. I made a lot of friends, people I truly cherish.
Then a disaster struck, and I was teleported to the Demon Continent. Ken, my loyal bodyguard and master, died protecting me. I became a Vampire, or rather, a member of the Blood Tribe and I have to train under the fire for months to be able to freely walk under the sun again.
My journey just kept rolling on; I defeated numerous powerful opponents, underwent hellish training at Fortress Necross, and now I'm finally on my way home.
Most importantly, after two whole lifetimes, I finally found the love of my life, Isolde. I love her, and she loves me back. We got together, and on my 15th birthday, we officially did it.
It was the best thing ever happened to me.
That night, my fear of going to sleep returned.
I was terrified that if I closed my eyes, I'd wake up right back in that dark room, all alone and freezing cold.
I was terrified that this was all just one long, elaborate dream.
I was so damn scared. I almost cried when praying to whoever was up there.
But just like in my previous life, exhaustion ultimately claimed victory. I fell asleep, right in the arms of the most beautiful girl in this world.
…
What woke me up was the sound of birds. Not the soothing chirps of sparrows or anything pleasant like that, but the obnoxious squawking of seagulls. That's when I suddenly remembered I was in a coastal city, in a completely different world.
Ah no, it's the same world I am currently in.
I was no longer lying on a freezing mat in a pitch-black room with the curtains permanently drawn shut. I was resting on a soft bed, right next to a wide-open window.
The ocean breeze filtered through the nearby trees and swept across the room, carrying the salty scent of the sea right to me. It's hard to believe how quickly something like that could completely wake me up.
I shifted slightly, moving my hand to the side, and brushed against something soft hidden beneath the blanket. That's when last night's events came flooding back.
Isolde and I had slept together—we had actually done the adult deed. And here she was, lying right next to me, and...
"I can't believe the very first thing you do is grope my butt."
She was completely awake, her eyes wide open and staring a hole right through me. But she doesn't seem to be judging or anything.
"Sorry. It was an accident," I coughed dryly. Hey, if anyone's to blame here, it's the fact that it was sitting right within grabbing distance.
I immediately tried to retract my hand, but Isolde grabbed it and held it in place.
"It's just instinct, really. No need to try and hide it," she said, giving me a playfully mischievous wink. "So, what are you going to do next?"
"Hey, you asked for it."
I certainly wasn't going to turn down an invitation to grope a butt, especially one as firm and gorgeous as Isolde's. Oh, and I wanted to grope her boobs too, obviously.
So, I groped Isolde's boobs. Soft, yet firm. Hehehehehe.
"You really are a pervert. I knew you were going to do exactly this," Isolde sighed. "If you keep this up, we're both going to be late for breakfast."
"Huh, how would we be late?" I played dumb. "I'm just copping a quick feel."
"Because if you keep doing that, I'm going to do this." And with that, Isolde kissed me.
I kissed her back, and so we ended up having a "quick" early morning warm-up session. The result was that we were, in fact, genuinely late for breakfast.
After Isolde took a bath, we went to grab breakfast at a nearby restaurant. That was when I finally got to try the Nanahoshiyaki I'd heard so much about. Although it tasted slightly different, it was exactly what I had predicted: Japanese-style fried meat.
But instead of chicken, it's dragon meat.
To be perfectly honest, I didn't have much to say about it, whereas Isolde ended up loving it. I'm not sure if it was because we had burned through a bit too much energy earlier, but she polished off two whole portions. To save my girlfriend from looking like a glutton, I went ahead and ordered the exact same amount.
We were both swordsmen, so eating a bit extra wasn't an issue. Besides, I already had a six-pack; my body fat was practically non-existent. Isolde, on the other hand, was much softer. Last night, I could clearly see and feel the lines of her abs, but they remained pretty flat unless she actively flexed them. Truth be told, I much prefer touching a soft belly over one that's rock-hard anyway. So this arrangement was perfectly fine by me.
"Don't worry, Isolde. It's totally fine even if you get a little chubby," I told her.
"How can you be so considerate and so tactless at the exact same time?" she sighed, before bursting into laughter. "But I suppose that's a good thing about you. You always just say whatever's on your mind."
I suppose so. I'm an honest guy—that's a definite plus. Sure, I still spin a lie here and there, but when it comes to the people I trust and cherish, I'd rather keep my mouth shut entirely than lie to them.
Sometimes I think it's a terrible habit, and it's definitely landed me in hot water a few times. But at the end of the day, I just ended up raising my standards for who actually deserves my trust, rather than resorting to lying.
At the very least, I was currently sitting right here, next to the girlfriend I loved, eating breakfast at ten in the morning. So I was absolutely certain everything was going to be fine.
Sometime around noon, I finally headed over to Paul's base camp. Isolde had made plans to go for a walk with Roxy and the other girls from the search party like Shierra and Vierra. You know, women and girl stuff. So, I headed over by myself.
…
However, on the way there, a tiny, pitch-black shadow came looking for me.
It was a cat, casually standing on its hind legs, leaning against the base of a tree. Its completely black, furry face radiated an undeniable aura of pure annoyance.
"Ah, right, sorry. I completely forgot about taking you out to sunbathe," I sighed.
"Good that you know," Larry replied, communicating by writing in the dirt with a dry twig.
Yep, it seemed my Night Panther had somehow learned how to write. Was there literally anything else left for my pet to surprise me with?
The question here is: who taught him anyway?
"By the way, congratulations, kid," Larry continued writing, raising his free front paw to give me a surprisingly proud thumbs-up. "You've finally become a real man. Not bad, not bad at all."
"Yeah, yeah, thanks."
Getting congratulated on losing my virginity by a literal cat was bizarre on a whole new level. I swear, if I ever told this story to anyone later, absolutely no one would believe me.
"Ah come on, let's go sunbathe."
"Meow."
So, I hoisted Larry up to sit directly on top of my head and went to find a quiet spot to soak up some sun.
As usual, the whole ordeal lasted about an hour; I was in pain, I was on fire, I had to focus or I would die, yada yada yada. After lounging around in his true form for a while, Larry started happily purring up a storm. This exact scene had played out countless times by now, but honestly, it still made me happy to see.
Come to think of it, today was the very last day I'd be seeing this damn cat. Looking back, we'd been stuck together for almost two whole years, hadn't we?
"It might sound a bit hard to believe, but I'm actually going to miss you, Larry," I said, gently petting the head of the famously grumpy black cat.
Larry actually just sat there and let me pet him—a genuine rarity. He lay there for a moment before suddenly pouncing up onto my shoulder and rubbing his head affectionately against my cheek. His sharp little whiskers poked my skin, making it itch like crazy, but I didn't try to brush him off.
Because even if Larry would never say it out loud, I firmly believed he felt the exact same way about me.
Good thing that in the end, we both became good friends huh?
…
Afterward, we headed back to Paul's camp just as planned. Halfway there, Larry apparently caught a whiff of Shierra's scent and darted off, leaving me to walk the rest of the way alone.
The second Paul saw me approach, he dropped the crate he was carrying and waved me over.
"Hey, Atur! I was just about to go looking for you."
So, I walked over to my uncle. "What's up?"
"Just received this this morning," Paul said, pulling out a letter and handing it to me. "It's from Rudeus."
"Oh, from Rudeus." I took the letter but immediately folded it back up after reading the very first line. "Uh, wait a second, isn't this addressed to you?"
Why the hell does Paul constantly hand me other people's letters!? Is this some kind of joke to him?
"It's not a mistake this time," Paul shrugged. "It's mostly just a general status update and him checking in on us anyway, so it's perfectly fine for you to read it."
"Right, sure..."
And so, I reluctantly started reading.
The contents of the letter were exactly as Paul had said. It was mostly just Rudeus asking about everyone's health and checking in on the search party's progress. He also gave a rundown of his recent activities, explaining how he'd been working as an adventurer in the Northern Regions of the Central Continent, searching for Zenith, right up until he crossed paths with Elinalise.
However, because traveling from his current location all the way to Begaritt could easily take an entire year or even more, joining the rescue mission wasn't exactly practical. By the time he finally arrived, the whole thing would likely already be over. Therefore, he had decided to enroll at the Ranoa University of Magic in Sharia, accepting their invitation to join as a special student.
"Ranoa, huh…" I muttered to myself as I read that part.
"Yeah, earning money for that was the whole reason Rudeus went to Roa to tutor Eris alongside you in the first place. So it only makes sense for him to enroll there now," Paul nodded. "To be honest, I almost completely forgot that the kid has never actually attended a proper school before. This is a pretty great opportunity for him, don't you think?"
"Yeah, it really is," I agreed, nodding.
Truth be told, I wasn't particularly shocked that Rudeus was enrolling there. I mean, it's the absolute mecca of magical education, and whenever I think of Rudeus, magic is literally the only thing that comes to mind. He was going to fit in like a fish in water.
The only thing was... it felt a little tragic that the letter didn't contain a single mention of Sylphy. In a perfect world, those two should have been enrolling there together.
But there was zero point in obsessing over "what ifs" now.
Getting back to the letter itself, once I flipped over to the third page, I realized Rudeus had penned a section specifically for me.
From this point on, Dad, could you please hand the letter over to Atur to read?
Hey, Atur. Sorry for piggybacking my letter to you onto my dad's. You know exactly how insanely expensive a long-distance letter is, so please just let that slide for now.
Anyway, I wanted to thank you for all your help in searching for my family. Elinalise told me quite a lot about you. It's a massive shame that we were both stranded on the Demon Continent at the same time and somehow never managed to run into each other, but I'm incredibly relieved to hear you're doing well. If you ever get the chance, you absolutely have to tell me the full story of how on earth you ended up becoming a Dragon Demon King okay?
Oh, and there's one really important thing I need to tell you. Eris is safe; I actually ran into her on my way to Asura. She's traveling with an incredibly strong warrior, so I can guarantee you she's perfectly safe. A few things happened while we were traveling together, but everything got sorted out in the end. By now, she should have safely reunited with Lord Philip and Lady Hilda. As far as I know, they're currently residing in Astraea, the capital of the Red Kingdom. So you'll be able to find your family there.
I have a lot more I want to say, but I'm completely out of paper, so I'll have to wrap it up here.
Wishing you all safety and good health.
Signed,
Rudeus Greyrat.
After reading that segment, my heart suddenly felt incredibly conflicted.
Part of me was genuinely thrilled that Rudeus had bumped into Eris, confirming that she was definitely safe and had successfully reunited with her family. But another part of me dreaded the thought of actually facing the Boreas family again. Honestly, I had absolutely no idea what I would even say to them.
I'd brainstormed a few ideas, but none of them sounded even remotely right.
So, the most logical play for now was probably to just avoid them entirely. It wasn't like my current mission was taking me anywhere near the Red Kingdom anyway. That place was located in the Strife Zone, while I needed to head straight for Asura.
"So, what's your plan now?" Paul asked, crossing his arms and waiting for my verdict.
"Huh? Didn't you need me to escort Norn and Aisha to Lilia's family?" I asked back.
"That was the original plan, yeah," Paul admitted. "But now I'm thinking it might be a much better idea to just send the two girls straight to Rudeus."
That actually made a lot of sense. Ranoa seemed like a pretty solid place, all things considered.
I'd never studied there, and I hadn't even seen what the place looked like. But compared to the schools in Asura, like the Royal Academy, it honestly sounded infinitely better. For starters, the tuition was vastly more affordable—a massive plus (in my book, at least). On top of that, Ranoa's supposedly free and egalitarian environment had to be a massive upgrade over the toxic, faction-obsessed survival-of-the-fittest hellscape I used to attend. I only got away scot-free back then because I was the son of a major noble and had Henry watching my back; nobody dared lay a finger on me. But that definitely didn't mean Norn and Aisha would be safe there.
I had zero intel on what Lilia's family was actually like, and there was absolutely no guarantee they wouldn't end up bullying Norn either. So having them stick close to Rudeus definitely seemed like the safer bet.
"Alright then, I'll escort your daughters to Rudeus."
"I figured you'd say that," Paul sighed.
"Huh? Is that not what you wanted?" I tilted my head, genuinely confused.
"Do you have any idea how long the journey from the East Port to Sharia actually takes?"
"Umm... getting from here to Ars is roughly a three-month trek assuming no major detours, so maybe half a year in total?"
"Close to a full year to be exact."
"It's that far!?"
"Did you honestly think traveling through the Northern Regions was a piece of cake?"
Unlike Asura and the rest of the Central Continent, the Northern Regions—according to Paul, at least—were basically locked in an eternal, punishing winter. The snow only melted for a few fleeting months a year, and even then, the roads turned into an absolute muddy nightmare, making carriage travel a grueling ordeal.
And that wasn't even factoring in the rampant monster population, or the deeply magic-saturated forests that spawned all sorts of bizarre phenomena. Sure, navigating that frozen wasteland was generally safer than surviving the Demon Continent or Begaritt, but it was still an absolute logistical nightmare. So yeah, taking an entire year to finally reach Sharia was definitely within the realm of possibility.
"But even so, if I don't do it, who else is going to?" I pointed out.
"Ginger is going to help me with that. And I could always just hire a couple of reliable adventurers. But having you handle it would definitely put my mind at ease."
"Let's go with that plan then."
I really didn't understand why Paul felt the need to beat around the bush so much.
"Aren't you even going to consult your girlfriend about this?" Paul frowned, visibly displeased.
Ah, so that was what this was all about. As for that little issue...
"If Isolde isn't up for it, she can just stay behind in Asura and begin her knight training. As for me, I'm a certified Hero anyway, not to mention a literal Dragon Demon King, so..." I shrugged casually.
Isolde had essentially said the exact same thing. Given my current public achievements—not even counting highly classified black-ops wins like the Velma's Cult of Pleasure incident—I could waltz into almost any military rank outside of the absolute top-tier command structure, and nobody would dare bat an eye. Hell, even the Pope himself had tried to recruit me as his personal bodyguard. Compared to all that, enrolling in standard knight training honestly felt like grinding out a minor side quest.
Ensuring my family members made it to a safe haven, however? Now that was the main quest. I am not that kind of person who will fool around when something far more important needs me to solve.
"If that's the case, I strongly suggest you actually talk to her first." Paul signed. "Don't just assume, women are very dangerous and hard to be dealt with."
"Okay then."
Though honestly, I had a sneaking suspicion that Isolde would just insist on dragging herself all the way to Sharia with me anyway.
…
A little while later, as everyone gathered at the docks, the ship was making its final preparations to set sail.
"Is that so? Then I'm heading to Sharia with you," Isolde stated matter-of-factly. Called it. I totally knew it.
"Didn't you want to become a full-fledged knight as soon as possible?" I asked.
"I know exactly where my priorities lie," Isolde replied with absolute certainty.
Oh, aww. She basically just indirectly confessed that I was her top priority. How friggin' adorable, hehe.
"He he. So it's officially decided then, Uncle Paul. I will go to Sharia." I flashed him a thumbs-up and a wildly triumphant grin.
"Yeah, yeah. No need to look so damn smug about it. You really are still just a kid at heart huh?"
Paul then turned his attention to his two daughters. The deeply annoyed scowl plastered across my uncle's face instantly melted away, replaced by the warm, gentle expression of a loving father. He started lecturing Norn and Aisha, strictly instructing them to behave and listen to me, assuring them that they'd be reuniting with Rudeus in no time.
Aisha accepted the news without missing a beat, flashing a massive, ear-to-ear grin and enthusiastically promising to be a good girl. Then while Lilia started to talk with Aisha about other things she had to do when they reached Rudeus's place, Norn, on the other hand, immediately threw her arms around Paul and burst into completely uninhibited, loud sobbing. But eventually, as the tears started to dry up, the dirty-blonde girl finally managed to accept it and let go of Paul.
While that emotional farewell was going down, Shierra nervously shuffled over to me.
The mage thanked me once again for taking the time to befriend her recently. Honestly, I hadn't really done all that much—mostly just chatting and recounting my completely unhinged stories from the Demon Continent. And yet, after all those little conversations, the painfully timid mage had genuinely started coming out of her shell, to the point where she could actually hold a conversation with other men, and even total strangers.
That was an absolutely massive leap forward for her. I felt genuinely proud of the girl, I really did.
Afterward, Shierra trotted over to thank Isolde as well. Vierra quickly joined the huddle. It seemed my girlfriend had gotten surprisingly chummy with the two sisters.
"Hey, Atur. I heard from Paul that you'll be heading to Sharia?" the petite girl with the ridiculously oversized hat—it was master Roxy—suddenly appeared.
"Yeah," I nodded. "I'm escorting Norn and Aisha up to Rudeus's place."
"So Rudeus finally ended up enrolling at Ranoa." For some inexplicable reason, Roxy's expression turned intensely complicated as she said that. "That boy is undoubtedly going to leave everyone completely dumbfounded, I'm sure of it."
That was highly probable. Even if I assumed Rudeus had zero intention of drawing attention to himself, guys like him and me were basically walking lightning rods for trouble—it would inevitably find us one way or another.
"By the way, if it's at all possible, why don't you enroll at Ranoa as well, Atur?" Roxy added. "If you want to become a magic instructor, there's no better place to learn."
"I've toyed with the idea, but I'll probably save it for later," I scratched my head. Then, flashing her a thumbs-up, I deadpanned, "Or, hey, once you get back from Begaritt, Master Roxy could just take this humble disciple under her wing again."
"What in the world could I possibly have left to teach you?" Roxy pouted, making her displeasure overtly clear. Then, she dipped her head slightly before slowly looking back up with a bright, genuine smile. "However, if I happen to stumble upon some bizarre new magic, I'll be sure to teach it to you. But in return, you have to promise to teach me any new tricks you manage to pick up as well."
"That goes without saying, Master Roxy," I bowed my head respectfully.
"Then I hope we'll cross paths again soon. Master Atur." Roxy returned the gesture.
After that, Roxy hurried back to rejoin the gaggle of girls. Isolde even pulled Roxy into a tight hug. Those two really had gotten surprisingly close. Ah right, they have been friends for almost a decade right? So that's only natural to be that close.
"Back on a boat... ugh..." Talhand let out a heavy, miserable sigh. He immediately shot a sideways glance in my direction. "I suppose I can't rely on you this time, can I?"
"You can always just ask Shierra and Master Roxy for help," I answered deadpan.
"Yeah, probably for the best," Talhand nodded slowly before suddenly reaching out and slapping my back with a loud thwack. "I'm not exactly great at emotional farewells. But I haven't forgotten our deal, kiddo. When I get back, I swear on my honor I'm going to forge you the absolute best sword you've ever held in your life. Okay?"
Honestly, I had already predicted Talhand was going to say something exactly along those lines. I just didn't expect him to literally match my prediction word for word.
"If those words come from you, I have absolutely zero reason to doubt it." I returned the favor, slapping Talhand on the back with a solid hit, though the sturdy dwarf didn't so much as budge. Which was exactly how it should be. "In the meantime, I'll just have to keep getting stronger so I'm actually worthy of wielding your masterpiece."
"And then we'll drink until we drop! Haha!"
"Damn right we will! Hahaha!"
And that, ladies and gentlemen, was exactly how I bid farewell to my favorite drinking buddy.
After that, somehow Paul is the last one who talk to me before their ship finally took off shore.
"Hey kid, next time we meet. Let's go with a duel okay?"
"Sure thing, uncle."
We did have plenty of time for duels but the most important thing here is to rescue Zenith so we both don't want to put any long term injury into our body. So we have to come up with this promise.
Well, I may be a North Saint now but Paul's experience is still something I still have to respect. So it won't be an easy battle at all.
Half an hour later, the tearful goodbyes finally wrapped up, right around the time all the cargo and passengers were fully loaded onto the ship.
The ship soon set sail, slowly disappearing over the horizon into the setting sun.
As for me, Isolde, Ginger, Norn, and Aisha? The North was our final destination.