Chapter 207 Departure. (End of Volume-2.)
At the outer edge of the Oort Cloud.
The corpse of some huge centipede floated in space with no destination whatsoever. The corpse was missing its head, it was likely killed by someone who smashed the head of the centipede into smithereens.
The corpse of the centipede alone is so huge that it looks like a small meteor from a distance. (For comparison, this centipede is more than 700 kilometers in length alone….)
The creature of this size is usually only found in SS-rank dungeons, only SS-rankers dare to fight such insanely gigantic monsters.
Above the dead corpse of the centipede, two individuals sat on chairs around a small table.
They both had solemn looks as they continued to play chess which was laid on the table's top.
"Hmm, your chess skills are indeed good, I have yet to win a single match against you, Aria, the most I got was a draw…" (???)
Hearing the praise, Aria smiled gently and replied in a soft voice.
"Hehe, it's my honor that my skills have been recognized by you, My Liege…" (Aria)
Both of them wore simple clothes that had several elven designs all over them. They both looked like they belonged to some royal bloodline.
Their serpentine-like eyes shined with wisdom beyond the comprehension of ordinary beings. Both of their auras were so refined and massive that they seemed to fit extremely well in the word 'Demi-god'.
"Come to think of it, how long has it been since we started playing this game?" (???)
"I think it's been a hundred years or something according to the time back on Earth…" (Aria)
"To think I will be able to enjoy this simple game for a whole century… humans really are capable of creating interesting things nowadays…" (???)
"Ahem, My liege, it's been a hundred years since we left Earth, humans have a smaller lifespan… so it's not 'nowadays' anymore…" (Aria)
All of a sudden Aria felt something in her mind and her eyes glanced in the direction of Earth.
"Hmm?" (Aria)
Aria brought out a strange-looking lamp from her space ring and a solemn expression appeared on her face.
"What happened?" (???)
"The light in the soul lamp has died down… one of my children has been killed by someone…" (Aria)
"Is that so…" (???)
Even though Aria found out that one of her children was killed, she didn't think too much about it. (Once dragon kids leave their mother's nest after reaching A-rank, they become fully independent…)
Dragons don't really have much kinship among each other, they are all solitary beings who rarely interact with each other.
"Shall we go back then?" (???)
"Yes, we should go back to the Dragon Valley now, it's been a hundred years, and a new generation of dragons might have already been born by now…" (Aria)
As a more than thousand-year-old dragon, Aria has more than five hundred children and dragons usually don't make great ties with their children.
Thus, Aaron's death didn't have much of an impact on Aria at all. For her, he was just one of her many children who were just average in talent.
For the dragon race, S-rank talent is just average, if you awaken talent below that level, you aren't even considered a dragon at that point, you would just be a waste that will be thrown out of the dragon valley instantly.
Dragon race has a great dislike for the weak. They only respect those, who are either equal or above their level of strength.
This is also the reason why dragons disdain other races, they think of them as weak and frail. Any average dragon is stronger than them after all.
The reason why Aria defended Aaron from Kai and Tomar, was because at that time Aaron was just a newborn kid and it was Aria's duty to protect her newborn children.
But now that Aaron is already a fully-fledged adult, she doesn't even care if he dies or lives.
This is the cruel and harsh law of the dragon race. If you don't have the talent to stand out among others, you will surely be forgotten sooner or later.
Only the children who have SS-rank talent are treated with utmost care by the dragon race.
They are the ones being considered excellent.
Still, even among the dragon race, SS rank is rare just like any other race. Even dragons don't have any advantage in this matter.
Reaching SS rank is no small feat, after all, it majorly depends on luck and opportunities. (These worldly rules don't apply to people Like Link who are born with talent so insane, that even the heavens are jealous of him…)
…
Both of them got up from their seats. Aria put the furniture back into her space ring along with the chess board.
The man on the other hand slightly flicked his finger at the corpse of the giant centipede below them.
With one flick of his finger, the space-time fabric was literally ripped apart and along with the corpse the whole 'space' of that area turned into 'nothingness'.
"Hmm, I used a bit too much strength…" (???)
Aria simply shook her head at that statement, she was already used to seeing similar things happen quite often. Thus, she didn't even bother to say anything in reply.
After a few minutes of delay, the two of them teleported away from the place and the shattered space fabric slowly healed by itself and returned back to normal as if nothing had happened.
…
Back on Earth.
Near the Oaklum Alliance Branch, Teleportation Circle.
Rio and others stood beside the empty teleportation altar.
While the maintenance staff fine-tuned the altar for a bit, the students passed the time by talking with Jin and Anna.
"So, Principal Raji has approved of that guy now?" (Jin)
"Well, she said that we have no other choice but to take that guy Fade with us now that there are no other suitable candidates left…" (Liam)
"She looked quite unhappy about it though, her face had a disgusted look all over it…" (Link)
Hearing those words, Jin shook his head.
"Well, she's always like this, once she starts to think badly about someone, it's very difficult to change that image in her mind… it's always better to not get on her bad side…" (Jin)
Even Anna who was sitting in a wheelchair, nodded her head at Jin's words.
"She has a hot temper, once you make her angry, it will be difficult to calm her down… better not get on her bad side…" (Anna)
'She once slapped me so hard that my jaw broke from that and I nearly fainted… my days in the academy were quite difficult after that.. ugh…' (Anna)
Aside from Riya, all of them felt quite complicated emotions from hearing about Raji's hot temper, they had all seen it beforehand in the dungeon of Maya when she nearly ended up killing her own father.
Currently, aside from Riya, none can calm down her anger easily.
But a single glare from Riya is enough to make her calm in an instant. (Sometimes I think Riya has some psychological power that she uses to make others calm and happier… even an SS-ranker isn't immune to it…)
Just when they were all talking with Jin and Anna, one of Jin's subordinates came and whispered something in his ears, to which Jin replied.
"Let him in…" (Jin)
The subordinate nodded his head went away. After a few seconds, he returned with a person wearing a businessman's suit.
The man saluted Jin and Anna both first and then introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you, I am Zach's older brother, I have come to see off Zach's friend on behalf of the hunt family, please excuse my rudeness…"
At the person's words, Jin shook his head and said in a calm tone.
"No worries… you can stay…" (Jin)
In fact, Jin felt quite guilty whenever the Hunt family was mentioned. He always thought to himself that if only he was just a few minutes early, things would have been quite different.
After getting permission from Jin, Zach's older brother glanced at the students and nodded his head in greeting, the group also said hello in return.
"Actually, Zach had prepared return gifts for you all before, we just recently found out about this… it's a good thing I made it on time…"
"I want to fulfill Zach's last wish of handing over the gifts that were meant for you all, please don't decline them and take them with you…. At least this way I will be able to give some peace to his soul in the afterlife…"
The atmosphere became solemn as Zach was mentioned, everyone knew that preparing return gifts for them before even the day of return arrived, this is definitely how Zach used to do things.
After explaining his purpose, he brought out the well packed gifts from his space ring and handed them all over to the students one by one.
Rio and Lia got matching bracelets, Link got gloves, Riya's gift box was filled with sweets and candies, and Liam got himself an exquisite-looking comb, that matched the color of Ellie's hair.
Ellie got herself a cute-looking cup, which she could use to drink Liam's handmade tea, Kira received a history book that was stored in the private library of the hunt family.
And lastly, Fade also got a pair of fancy-looking sunglasses.
Each and every gift had the name of the receiver engraved on it with elegant handwriting.
Receiving those gifts made them all feel happy and sad at the same time.
All of them, even Fade and Kira thanked Zach's older brother who handed over the gifts on behalf of Zach.
"I think my younger brother wanted to give these gifts to you all so that you can remember the friendship with him, whenever you looked at those gifts… but I guess now these gifts hold a totally different meaning…"
"We will cherish these gifts!" (They all said in a united tone.)
Hearing the reply the guy smiled a bit, he seemed to be hiding his sadness behind that smile but no words could have consoled that sadness.
Time went by slowly and the maintenance of the Altar was completed.
All of the students stood on the Altar and waved their hands to say goodbye once again.
With more determination on their faces than ever, the students teleported back to the academy to go through further training before going to the 'meeting'.
After the students teleported away, Zach's older brother left via his car, he had a sad look on his face as he left the place.
Jin shook his head and left with Anna too.
They knew that no words of theirs could console the other party's grief, losing their loved ones so suddenly is difficult to accept the situation.
But in this cruel world where monsters and demons roam freely, situations like this are very common. Sooner or later, people will forget about this matter too.
Yet, the existence of Zach's friendly figure shall not fade away into obscurity.
'Time will pass and his existence might be forgotten by all, but in the hearts of Rio and others, Zach will always be a best friend who was loyal till the end.'
…
…
Author's Notes.
Yo! It's your beloved author here!
The Second Volume of the novel ends here today. With the blessing of great support and luck, I have been able to write this novel so far. Thus, I thank you all for your support.
Let us all cheer up on this happy occasion.
You have now completed reading two volumes of this novel, so please do me a favor and leave your thoughts about the novel in reviews if you haven't done it yet.
And with this in mind, the Adventure arc finishes here for now, but the adventures of Rio and others will not stop here at all. There are still things to come and I will depend on your support in the future too.
Thanks for Reading, Dear Readers.
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