Edward then wiped the blood from his hand with a handkerchief and left the house. He didn't even look at Joel's wife.
'It feels so good to fix things like this. I never imagined it would.' Edward smiled strangely happily.
In his life, he had never had the opportunity to fix things with his fists, as he had never been strong enough to do so. Now that he was doing it for the first time, he felt he could become addicted to it.
Fortunately, he was in a different world, where the strong rule and the weak obey. It was the best world in which to do so.
He walked the lonely road home. Occasionally, on every corner, there were alcoholics and all kinds of strange people lying in the streets. There were few guards in this desolate place, so the thugs waited nearby to commit their misdeeds, although they did not move against him.
When he returned home, 45 minutes had passed since he left, and it was already late at night.
"Dad, I'm back." Edward greeted him as soon as he entered the house, wanting to tell him more.
But he received no response.
"Dad? Are you taking a shower?" He asked after taking a few steps inside, but received no response.
'Where did he go?' he thought, and opened the bedroom door.
He was alone. The bathroom... no one was there either.
Suddenly, he had a bad feeling, and his heart sank. He returned to the living room from his bedroom and came face-to-face with the corner where his father's work tools were usually kept.
'Are they gone?'
He thought about rushing out to the yard, believing that he was doing maintenance on them, but then his eyes caught something.
On the table was a neatly written and folded piece of paper; it looked like a letter.
'Dad's handwriting.' He recognized it immediately and grabbed it.
-My son, you have grown so much.
I see you only a few times a month, but every time I look at you, you look more and more like your mother, although the way you do things reminds me of myself back in the day. I must say, I am surprised and very proud.
It's hard to say goodbye, mainly because I don't know when I'll see you again. But to avoid causing you problems with the lieutenants, I prefer to say goodbye quickly; that way, you can go back to the academy, mature, and grow there. The Provincial Academy is the safest place for you.
Graduate, seek your future, and be strong. Your father will be back soon. I'm just returning to my travels.
Sincerely, Abraham Lux.
-
Edward tensed halfway through reading, his hands clenching the letter...
His body remained there, rereading the letter over and over, trying to make sense of what he was reading. He then searched the house for his father, but there was no sign of him, not even in the yard.
His "refrigerator room" didn't have much in it; his father had taken some things and left the rest behind.
In addition to that, he had left something else inside.
His eyes widened in shock. 'A storage ring? Where did my father get this?
He grabbed it, and the ring offered no resistance to his intention to look inside, which meant he could use it and take it as his own.
Inside was a lone sword.
It was large, but very comfortable to wield. It seemed to be tailor-made and felt very sturdy. The material it was made of was strong, firm, and powerful, though it was probably more the work of the blacksmith than the material itself, as it did not look particularly luxurious, though it was beautiful.
He examined it and found only the signature of the blacksmith who made it: an A and an L signed in such a way that they appeared to be formed by the body of a mighty dragon protruding above the letters.
It was a very well-made signature. It brought back memories of the best signatures made by certain professionals dedicated to that craft on Earth.
But there was nothing else inside the ring.
'Father... Did you leave this for me? Where did you get this sword?'
Where had his poor father gotten so much money to buy him a sword?
'No, I shouldn't worry about that. I need to know where he went.' He shook his head and stopped thinking about the ring and the sword.
He searched the house some more, even thinking about trying to look for footprints, but he wasn't an expert at that. In the end, he sat helplessly in the living room, looking at the letter...
He understood why his father had left. If he wasn't here, he had no reason to come to this place every so often, especially now that he had managed to summon his beast. He could spend his days at the academy, growing up.
He did it because coming here was dangerous now that they had antagonized those guys entirely. Although they weren't that strong, Joel was Lord Henry's subordinate, someone extremely dangerous to him at present.
He understood that, but...
'Why just like that? I was going to tell you that I could soon buy a house in a better area...'
His face darkened as countless questions crossed his mind. Suddenly, what he had longed for during these months living in this world had collapsed.
He had just awakened, but his father would not be there to enjoy it.
Did this make sense?
'...I just have to look for him.' Those were his sudden thoughts when the light returned to his eyes.
The Evolution System was still there, greeting him and telling him to prepare to become strong. It said to him that he just had to kill beasts with his summoned beasts to level them up.
'The way to find him is there. Anyway, he can't go far. It's not goodbye forever.' He thought and pulled himself together.
It was okay. This, even though it didn't feel right, was okay.
If he were here every day, he would have to spend half his days worrying, because they had enemies. They weren't strong, but they were stronger than them.
He hadn't yet leveled up his beasts, so he didn't know how difficult it was to do so. So the farther his father was from trouble, the more freedom and peace of mind he would have as he grew up.
"This isn't bad." He clenched his fists, convinced of it.
He got up, folded the letter, and put it in his new ring. Then he put what his father had left him in there and took out the sword to look at it one last time...
He had made a decision.
He couldn't stay here.
If his father was gone, there was nothing in this house but nostalgia to tie him down. But nostalgia is nothing more than a bond, and he was not a child to cling to it.
He lived a life on earth and has now been in this world for a year. He could break free from these bonds if it meant a better future.
If he wanted to give his father a better future, someone who had cared for him and taught him so many things since he arrived here and given him the warmth of a father, then he had to know how to detach himself from nostalgic ties when he had the chance.
His father gave him this opportunity, and although he felt bad and it was a little painful to see him leave without saying goodbye like that, he was confident that if he grew stronger, he would be able to find him soon.
After putting everything he needed into his new storage ring, he tucked it into a pocket of his clothes, as he couldn't carry it around outdoors while he was weak; such things are too expensive. He then put on black robes that covered him completely and went out.
It hadn't even been a day since he left the academy, and he already had to return.
'But first, I'll inform Aurora,' he thought as he hurried along the lonely roads...
-