Chapter 107：Arrival

Dylan sat on the couch, eyes closed, Fir sleeping on his head again. There seemed to be some kind of ethereal air around him as he refilled the mana that Fir had just greedily gobbled up.

"Fir seems to eating a lot more lately." Sherry commented quietly.

Dylan nodded his eyes. "He almost ate half of my mana. That's all he does nowadays. Eats, then goes back to sleep."

"Is there something wrong with him?"

"No, but he's sluggish all the time."

Sherry hummed back a response and shoved a slice of fruit into Dylan's mouth with a smile. "Go back to what you were doing."

Chewing the pear, Dylan smiled and closed his eyes again, purifying and absorbing the mana around him. Suddenly, he felt a burst of pure magic surging nearby. It spread like waves, causing one to feel a gush of comfort wash over them. It was an unnoticeable phenomenon to those who were unfamiliar with magic and even mages who weren't sensitive to magic, but Dylan was currently absorbing magic and Sherry was a talented mage, it was impossible for them to miss it.

"That magic…why does it feel so familiar?" Sherry muttered.

Dylan opened his eyes wide. "It's Goddess Sennia's magic."

"Goddess Sennia? But why would it…does it have anything to do with that dream?" Sherry suddenly had a revelation.

"…It came from the park." Dylan suppressed a train of thought that emerged in his mind and opted to focus on the task at hand. He grunted, standing up so roughly that it woke Fir up. Fir looked around confused but seeing as nothing was wrong, he went back to sleep. "Let's go."

Sherry nodded and the two sprung out the house, sprinting to where they sensed the turbulence of magic. With his sharp eyes, Dylan could instantly see Matthias leaning against a tree trunk, asleep. The children were approaching him without any caution and Matthias was showing signs of waking up. Cursing under his breath, Dylan retrieved his sword from his storage and picked up his pace.

"There's someone sleeping here again." Diana pointed at Matthias. He was quite far away from them so they couldn't really distinguish his facial features but could vaguely tell that he was unconscious.

"When did he appear? How come we didn't see him before?" Fiona questioned.

"W-what if he's a ghost?" George timidly suggested.

"It's day time right now and ghost aren't real!" Frank debunked.

"This reminds me of Dylan." Yasmin commented.

As the kids got closer to Matthias, they noticed that he wore big, bulky black bracelets around his four limps and neck. There was also the addition of heavy chains that decorated the ground around him.

"Those are handcuffs aren't they? What if he's a bad person?" The kids stopped approaching Matthias at the thought. Dressed in a plain black robe in this heat and handcuffed, everything about him just screamed suspicious (or cosplay).

"Stand back!" Dylan yelled, rushing in between Matthias and the children.

"Dylan?" The children gasped in shock. Dylan was holding a sword in his hands, one hand on the sheath and the other on the handle, ready to draw at any time.

Dylan glared at Matthias whilst ordering the children. "Go to Sherry and don't look back."

"What? Why?" The children asked.

At that moment, the slumbering Matthias woke up from all their yelling. His hazy eyes opened to see Dylan's angry face, the confused faces of five unknown children and also an apprehensive Sherry. Matthias blinked, clearing up his eyes only for them to blur up again with tears. They fell, trickling down his cheeks and falling from his chin. "Dylan…" He muttered with a blank face.

Dylan froze, unsure as to how to react. "…Matthias." He growled.

Tears still dripping, the corners of Matthias' lips curled up into a smile. "I know this is all just in my mind but I, I'm just really glad to see one last time before I die. I'm sorry for everything I've done to both you and Sherry. I've sorry for not being able to save you."

In Matthias' head, everything he was seeing was all his imagination. The blue skies, the bright sun, Dylan and Sherry, everything made up by his head as a way to escape the mind numbing pain of the poison that was slowly eating away at him. Despite thinking so, Matthias felt nothing but joy in seeing his long lost friend and being able to at least apologise gave some him sort of salvation.

Dylan narrowed his eyes. "You, what did you just say?"

Matthias wasn't really expecting Dylan to reply to him. He was at a lost for what to say.

Dylan took a deep breath, finally noticing the restraints placed on Matthias. They were expensive magic sealing restraints typically only used on dangerous criminals, usually ones on death row. "Matthias, were you executed?"

Still stunned, Matthias nodded and chuckled dryly. "I was sentenced for the crime of murdering you two. Everyone who saw me cursed me, even Eliza came to visit. His majesty personally oversaw the execution himself, he made sure I drank that Yiv poison."

"Yiv poison!" Sherry gasped. She'd heard rumours of the infamous poison. It was renowned for being the most painful way to die, a slow and gruesome way to go. She cast eyes of pity at Matthias. Sherry died in a relatively quick way, stabbed through the chest and very quickly dying from her wounds. Compared to that, Matthias' death was just traumatising.

Sherry felt a tug at her shirt. She looked down and saw the kids looking at her with confusion and concern.

"Sherry, is something wrong? Why's Dylan so angry? He even has a sword." Fiona asked.

That brought Sherry and Dylan back to their senses. They've been so caught up by the sudden appearance of Matthias that they've totally neglected the existence of the kids.

With a cough, Dylan released his tight grip on the handle of his sword and reeled back his killing intent that was unintentionally leaking out from him. Still speaking in Divian, Dylan spoke to Sherry. "Sherry, can you take the kids into the house? I need to talk to Matthias."

"But-"

"I'll be fine. I won't do anything, we'll just talk. I'll be quick, I promise."

"…Okay." Sherry turned to the kids. "Let's go inside for now, okay? Dylan needs to talk to his friend alone."

Sherry smiled in an effort to reassure the children. "It's fine. They're just a little angry with each other and are going to make up now."

"But he has a sword!" Diana pointed out. She was not convinced by Sherry's explanation, no one was.

"He had one when you first met each other, didn't he? It's actually something really special to the two of them so its sorta a sign of peace. So, even though he looks really angry, he's actually happy on the inside to see his friend again after a long time."

"So, he's a tsundere?" Frank asked.

Sherry giggled. "Yes, exactly. Now, let's get inside, we can't interrupt the tsundere from getting dere can we?"

""Okay"" The children very reluctantly accepted Sherry's explanation. It wasn't their position to stick their noses in anyways. Plus, they've seen Dylan's opposite face before. Even when he's smiling, inside he was plotting how to torture them under the guise of training, cough, it made perfect sense to them that he could look angry but actually be secretly happy inside.

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King: Oh, that devil is finally dead. How creepy of him to keep smiling under all that pain. That'll haunt my dreams for days!

[Matthias disappears]

King: Uwahhhhh!!!! What in the goddess' name is going on?! How, what, where'd the body go?!

Goddess Sennia:...Oops