Chapter 275: Home Sweet Home
Early Evening - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut
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*Click* Hearing the lock get undone, I stepped back from the door, but instead of seeing a maid as it swung open, I found myself looking down at a white dragon almost 10 meters shorter than me.
-To think I grew this much... We were basically eye-to-eye before I left...- I subconsciously lowered my head and softened my posture upon seeing him. "H-Hey, Father... Have you been well?"
His expression was a mix of confusion, awe, and worry. "V-Vasilias?! Y-you're already back? Nothing serious happened, right?"
I immediately clammed up a bit. "A few things happened, but that's not why I'm here." -I don't think I'll be able to avoid the issue this time, but that's for later...- "I just haven't been able to keep in touch over the last few years, so I decided to come back and visit for a while."
His worry quickly started to fade as he let out a deep breath. "Phew..."
However, his worry wasn't the one I was anxious about. "Honey? Is everything alr-" As Mother rounded the corner, she completely froze in place with an expression remarkably similar to Fathers before bolting to the door and quickly inspecting me. *FWOOSH* "Vasilias?! What are you doing here?! Are you alright?! Are you in trouble?! Do you need help?!"
Her worry hit me in the face like a train, forcing me to quickly pull her in for a hug. "I'm alright, Mother! You don't need to worry so much."
Her worry slowly started to dissipate with my affirmation, but her heart was still racing. "What do you mean, 'not worry'? When children leave the nest, it's for at least 10 years. If they come back sooner, it either means something bad happened, or they struggled to adapt to living on their own.. and I know you aren't the latter..."
Her worry was definitely warranted, especially with the condition of my aura and slightly visible exhaustion. -But I can't let her worry like that...- "I just came back because I missed you all... Is that such a bad thing?"
Her face quickly morphed as if she wanted to cry before shoving it into me and speaking in a hushed tone. "N..no... Thank you for coming back..."
A warm feeling arose in my chest immediately. "Of course... It's good to be back."
There was a short moment of silence, not just among us but also the maids, as we stood in the doorway and enjoyed our reunion.
However, after a moment, I decided to ask something weighing on my mind. "So, where is Krystallo?" It was pretty unusual that she didn't charge into me the moment I came through the door.
Mother slowly pulled away again, clearly still emotional. "Since the incident with Eugene and Basilia, she is cautious whenever someone visits... However..." She slowly backed up with a more purely joyful expression coming to her face. "She will definitely freak out when she sees that it's you."
I smiled just thinking about it. "What makes you say that?"
"She took you leaving the nest harder than anyone. It even made it hard for her to make friends when she first started going to the academy."
Suddenly feeling a bit guilty, I followed Mother into the estate, away from the peeping eyes of the people. -I knew she would take it a bit hard, but I didn't think it would be that bad...-
As we started walking, Mother slowed down to speak with me. "I don't think I ever told you, but when you had one of your first dragon sleeps, Krystallo stuck to you like a magnet. Whenever I told her she needed to sleep on her own, she would refuse and crawl up next to you like Ilios does." Her familiar warm expression quickly started to return as she glanced back at Ilios, who was already napping.
"Haha, is that so?" -I remember her crawling up next to me some when we were young, but to think it started that early on...- My smile slowly grew. -We will be turning 16 soon... Maybe I will finally be able to have some fun teasing her.-
However, all hopes of me getting some fun out of teasing her was tossed out of the window mere moments later.
Coming up on what I assumed was the living room, Mother walked ahead and opened the door. "Sweetie, Vasilias came-"
*FWOOOOSH* A white blur blasted through the door immediately before leaping off the ground and heading straight for my face. *CLACK*
The next thing I knew, I had a 16-meter-tall dragon hanging off my head, glaring at me with a gleam in her eyes and a wagging tail.
Before I knew it, the question I knew was inevitable finally came.
Father was pretty blunt about it too. "You keep mentioning that you need to replenish your mana, but no matter how I look at it, your aura doesn't exactly seem all that low."
-Haah.. I guess I'll need to tell them soon anyway...- I quickly shook my head. "My reserve has grown immensely over the last few years. I have actually been narrowly avoiding mana exhaustion for a few days now..."
Mother tensed up immediately, clearly putting two and two together. "If your reserve has grown that much.. then what did you do that drained it?" She looked extremely anxious.
"Well.. it's a long story, but I guess I should start by saying... I am basically the ruler of Siratha now."
Krystallo immediately looked up from the microscope and gave me a confused look. "Didn't the Sirathian gods return during the recent prayer?"
I was quick to nod. "What would you say if I told you that your brother is their god?"
Her eyes lit up like a beacon.
But Mother still wore a worried look. "So you were the one to kill the apostles?!"
My nod told a thousand words. "But it's not what you think." I hesitated for a moment to think of how to explain it before deciding to just go for it. "The apostles that I killed were ones who got possessed by a human god named Magni. I couldn't-"
Mother's face turned pale before I could even finish. "Don't tell me..."
I moved over to her in a flash. "Don't worry! I didn't get marked or anything! The human gods still have no idea what or who I am."
She didn't believe me, though. "S..sweetie... T..that isn't possible if the god was there themselves..."
Seeing such doubt and worry, I could no longer beat around the bush. "It is possible because I killed him before he could escape."
Silence filled the room instantly, freezing everyone in place and making their faces pale.
My statement to Krystallo about being a god was suddenly no longer a child's exaggeration.
Krystallo was actually the only one who didn't wear a look of disbelief or fear, even among the maids. She just looked at me with an unfathomably prideful light in her eyes.
"Haah..." -At least I avoided worrying her...-
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