Chapter 288 - Don't Blame Yourself.

Noah and his family stayed in three rooms.

Noah stayed in one room, Lari in another, and her parents stayed in a room for couples. Then as soon as they got in, they each went to their room and didn't speak to each other again until dawn.

And as soon as it was dawn, Noah went to his parent's room next door.

Knock~~

He knocked a few times on the door and then his mother opened it.

"So, how are you feeling?" Noah entered the room and then sat down in a chair that was next to the bed. His mother returned to the bed, looking despondent.

"I'm just a little tired, but I'm feeling better."

"I see. Where is my father?"

"He went out to got breakfast for him and me. You should call Lari to have coffee with you, she's still sleeping."

"I'll do that in a little while. I'll stay here with you until my father returns."

"What happened? Are you worried?"

"Yes, I am. I know you're not feeling well, so I want to stay by your side."

"..."

"It's okay to do this, isn't it?"

"Of course."

Emma smiled at Noah and then closed her eyes.

Noah watched her for a while until his father came back into the room.

"Noah? What happened?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to stay by my mother's side."

"I see. Coffee is ready, the inn receptionist said you can come down for coffee now."

"Right. Try to eat well, Mom."

"I will."

Noah left his parents' room and then went to Lari's room.

He knocked a few times on the door to call for her.

Lari didn't answer the door, so Noah tried to open the door.

And it opened.

"Doesn't she lock the door? It's dangerous to leave the door open at night."

After entering, Noah found Lari lying on the bed. She was lying with her body in a strange position.

"She will surely suffer from neck pain for the rest of the day. What is this strange way of sleeping?"

"Hey, Lari!"

Noah approached and called out to her. Lari, startled and stood up quickly.

"Hm?" She looked around for a while until her senses returned to normal. When that happened she smiled at Noah in front of her.

"Good morning." She rubbed her two eyes as she smiled.

"... It's breakfast time, let's go downstairs. I have a lot to do today, I need to visit Lisandra, Ciaphia, Taciane, and Eli to let them know that we are in the capital. And we also need to talk about what happened."

"Yes... But will you tell them everything? Even about us going to another world?"

"I will have to tell them everything. How will I explain the disappearance of all the villagers? She won't believe me if I tell her that everyone decided to leave at the same time."

"You can say that your mother decided to go live in the capital and the villagers decided to migrate to other villages. How about that?"

"I think it's best not to keep that information from them."

"You're right."

"Well, I'll talk to my mother about it later, we'll decide what to do. Now let's go downstairs and have some breakfast."

"Okay. I'll wash my face first."

####

"How are you feeling, Karen?"

"I'm still angry with that girl. How could she come in here and offend you like that?"

"Don't worry about her, you'll still have a chance to meet her again."

"Meet her? But I thought she was dead.

"She wouldn't die that easily. After all, she is a subordinate of one of my brothers or sisters, and I think I already know who sent her here."

"Who?"

"Isadora."

"Isadora? But she doesn't have any subordinates except for the one you kidnapped."

"I know. But after that girl disappeared, Isadora's subordinate disappeared, so she probably picked him up while I was distracted."

"Oh, I understand now."

"I was very naive. Well, I'll have other opportunities."

####

"Ciaphia?" Arriving at the door of Ciaphia's house, Noah knocked a few times on the door and called out to her.

He stood there for a long five minutes, but no one came.

"She must have gone out on an assignment. Well, I'll talk to them later."

Noah returned to the inn on the main street and found his mother and father sitting at one of the tables. Lari had gone back to her room.

"You didn't find them?" Lucio asked as soon as Noah approached.

Noah shook his head and replied.

"No. They probably left to go on a guild mission. 

"They will probably arrive in the afternoon, let's wait."

"Okay. What do you want to do now, Emma? Do you want to stay in the room or do you want to go out for a while? We can have some fun around the capital."

"Whatever."

"I see. I think I have an interesting place for us to visit. Do you want to come with us, Noah?"

"No, I'm going to the adventurers' guild now."

"Are you going to start work already?"

"Well, we need money."

"You don't have to worry, we have plenty of money saved up," Emma said sounding worried. She didn't want Noah to risk his life to earn a little money.

But Noah just smiled to calm her down.

"Don't worry, I won't go on any dangerous missions, I know my limits."

"You promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

"Okay. And in case you end up finding Lisandra and the others, bring them here, we need to talk to them about what happened, okay?"

"Yes, Mom."

Then Lucio and Emma got up and got ready to leave.

After they left, Noah got up to go to the adventurer's guild.

Walking the main street, he felt someone watching him. After looking up from the building that was across the street, Noah could see a black shadow hiding behind a chimney.

"Is that person after me? Why?" Noah began to grow more cautious.

####

Arriving at the guild, the first person Noah encountered was Rose.

As soon as she saw him, Rose waved with a smile. And since she was attending to another adventurer, Noah went to talk to the other receptionist, who was Rieli.

Since they had returned from the village, the two of them had returned to work in the adventurers' guild.

Even though it had been two years, they were still there.

"Noah? When did you arrive?" As soon as Rieli saw him, her eyes widened. She was surprised and also seemed excited.

"I arrived today in the capital."

"I see. What can I do for you?"

"First I would like to know about Lisandra and the others. Have they go in a mission?"

"Yes. As soon as it was morning they took a mission. They always take missions in the morning so they can get to the capital in the afternoon."

"I see. Oh, and about the letter I received."

"You read it?"

"Yes. Is the guild master in? I'd like to talk to him for a while."

"You can go up to the second floor and call for him at the first door on the left."

"Thank you."

Noah went up to the second floor and then knocked on the first door on the left of the hallway.

"Who is it?"

"It's me, Noah."

"Come in."

After entering, Noah found the guild master. He was standing looking out the window.

"I saw you coming, I was quite surprised."

"Did you think I wouldn't come?"

"I thought your mother would stop you from coming."

"She wouldn't do that, after all, I'm an adult now."

"That's true, isn't it? Time has passed too fast, you're an adult now, and the war seems like it never happened."

"Yes, time passes too fast."

"But you didn't come here to talk about it, did you? So what did you decide?"

"About going back to being an adventurer?"

"Exactly."

"I'm going back to being an adventurer, after all, I need money right now. Some things have happened..."

"From the look on your face, it doesn't seem like something simple."

"It's not simple at all. Are you willing to listen to a completely crazy story?"

"I don't mind."

"But promise me you won't tell anyone about it."

"You can trust me."

"It's just that something happened in my family's village..." Noah bit his lips and clenched his fists.

The guild master stared at him and realized that Noah was in a fragile state, he could cry at any moment.

'I know I shouldn't say this to him, but I just want to get it off my chest with someone now. Was I really an S-RANK adventurer in my old world? I've never felt so fragile as I do now.'

####

"So that's it. That's pretty unbelievable."

"I know, but it's the truth. I don't know what to do from now on, all our history in that village has been erased. Life in that village is over."

Noah bit his lips regretfully.

The guild master approached and then placed his hand on Noah's head.

"You were not to blame for anything. I'm sure your mother and father don't blame you for anything that happened."

"I know, even Isadora told me that, that I wasn't to blame for anything."

"She's right. Come on, don't be so discouraged. I know it's quite hard to deal with this, but you need to be strong to support your parents and your sister. I'm sure you are the strongest person among them."

"I'm not sure about that."

"...."