"How is that a small deal at all?" Keith, standing in the middle of the rubble, seemed pretty sad.
"Because it is." I shut his argument down with great reasoning. Pointing at the corpse behind me, I asked. "Who are these guys?"
"Seem like the Fonias. Who cares! The drinks!!"
I held in a sigh and walked over to Keith. He wasn't going to let this go.
"Look, I'm sorry for breaking the promise but..." I had to distract him with something else. I pointed at my neck and my chest as the long scar that stretched down revealed itself. "I got this real badass scar."
Keith leaned closer and inspected the scar. "That does look badass."
"Right?"
"But you're body is too riddled with wounds for it to look good. And, hey wait what the fuck! Your finger's gone too!"
"I cut that one off."
I could feel some of Keith's Ki leaking out and coiling around me, which I blocked right away. It seemed like he was trying to inspect my body with his Ki. With the great lack of people in such a realm, the powers of Soul Ki were already a mystery, there was a lot I didn't know.
"How'd you get all these?" Keith asked.
"Eh, I fought a demon king, who cares."
"Oh yeah, I heard. People do care, young master, they're going crazy!"
I frown left me at his words. It seemed rumors of the incident in the Empire had also found their way here. My cover as just an adventurer was now broken, now Dusk was Eugene and Eugene was Dusk.
How saddening.
"You got a girlfriend too?" Keith leaned on his sword and asked. "And Sir Kaiser himself gave you an Epithet!? That's just crazy, do you know how many people would kill for such an honor?"
I was almost about to break into a smile at Lethe's mention, but the surprise of seeing Keith refer to any person with such reverence was more shocking than hearing about someone's stepbrother throwing their dog in a furnace.
"Kai isn't that big a deal."
"Kai? As expected of you, young master! You're the last person to act normally!" Keith, who said that so brightly was the person least close to normalcy.
At that moment, Dawn walked over from the side and approached us.
"Um..."
"Oh, right." I had to introduce the others. "This is my friend, Dawn. Dawn, Keith, he's an idiot."
"Like master like servant, young master."
"He's also ugly."
"Skill-based matchmaking."
"How do you even know that term!?"
Dawn seemed a bit too confused at our back and forth as she awkwardly stretched a hand out toward Keith.
Keith, on the other hand, grasped her hand and started sniffing the air around her. Dawn took a step back in surprise but Keith didn't stop.
"Doesn't smell like a human," Keith said.
"And he's also a dog now! Or do you prefer being called a bitch? Two years sure is a long time."
"Why don't we go a round, young master?"
"Ah..." Dawn seemed stumped for words. She wasn't able to decide whether she should say anything or not. I usually would have spoken up, but this was her matter to deal with. If she didn't want to admit it, she didn't have to.
Keith seemed to be of the same thought. "Don't worry about it, miss."
"And, Keith."
I spoke out again. I raised my hands to my head and my fairy partner climbed on my palm.
Keith narrowed his eyes as I brought my palm toward him.
"I can sense a soul here."
I was a bit surprised by that. People who could see or even feel Titania had suddenly increased in number.
"This is my partner," I said. "My soulmate, I guess that's a better word."
"A fairy from Alfheim."
Titania waved her hands and started to speak. "My name is Queen Titania of Evil. The Evil Queen! You can bow before me, puny human."
Since Keith couldn't hear her, I decide to translate. Into normal speak, of course. My fairy partner was a bit too chuunibyou to be appreciated by the normal world. Naturally, my face was smacked at for not speaking properly.
It felt great to speak with Keith again. It felt natural, I had spent eight years just like this.
Keith stared at me.
"What?" he asked.
"It feels good to be back home."
The man stiffened up for a second. He then walked over to me and before I could react, wrapped his arms around me.
Keith started slapping my back with firm arms as if encouraging me.
"Good to have you back, young master. I am glad you're alright."
Two years back, I barely used to reach his sides, and now, I was just a couple of inches shorter than him.
I raised my hands and lightly tapped his shoulders.
Keith let go of me and smiled.
"Well then," I said. "Let's get a move on."
Before I could turn, a fist came thundering down at the top of my head as a loud smack rang out.
I looked up to see Keith gazing at me, his chin raised and his fist up high.
"And that's for leaving without a fucking word."
Ok.
Maybe I deserved that.
Keith coolly turned away and started walking. I could see his shoulders move up and down.
Was he crying?
"As if! Stop right there, you bastard!" My feet kicked off the ground and I ran after him. Keith, taking a quick gaze back, hid his mouth as he snickered before breaking into a run.
"Uwaa! It was a joke! A practical joke!"
Deserved? The strongest can do whatever they want!
"H-hey! Take me along!"
And so the three of us ran to the city.
***
In the distant mansion of the Hall family on the route to Apollon, a strange voice was ringing out.
The mansion was almost completely empty, except for the kitchen.
"Haha..."
The voice laughed.
Along with it, sharp scratches rang out.
"Hahaha..."
A blade was being sharpened.
"HAHAHAHAH!"
And a maid was manically laughing.
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