Life didn't get easier, even in another world-Chương 413: Return

"Who?"

The question echoing in the temple carried with it silence and stillness, as well as an unbearable chill. The young man's heart, barely still functioning, skipped a beat as an invisible glass wall crumbled within him.

'I've grown up pretty much,' he thought. 'It's natural if he can't recognize me,' he concluded.

The mister's eyes were dull, lifeless, blank; as if the luster within them had long sank. His usually smooth hair was disheveled, no longer having the silky feel to it. His mister looked tired, or so more puzzled.

"It's-"

Knees giving out, the young man slipped down, and akin to a drifting snowflake, fell to the ground, limp and cold. Body quavering and breath wavering, with his gaze fixated on the man ahead of him, Reynold hushed out muffled words through his parched lips.

"I-It's me, mister, it's Reyn- Cough!"

His sentence came to an abrupt end by an unending coughing fit. Crimson liquid oozed out from his mouth with each gasp, carpeting the ground red. His body tilted forward, unable to withstand its own weight.

Tap. Something interfered with his fall, stopping his body's movements and holding him up.

"Reyn? Reynold?" Roy's voice could be barely heard through the boy's hazy mind. "Take a... deep br...eath... he... Rey..."

As he took in the feeling of losing all his senses while his body slumped into a thick darkness, Reynold couldn't help but smile at his fate. It'd be good if he could live a bit longer, but now that he was here and had seen the man for one last time, he didn't have any regrets. He didn't struggle to set free of the shackles of death.

'Such a great life,' was the last thought that crossed his mind.

"...He'll... Fine..."

"...sure?"

"...Wait... Wake..."

Through the darkness, barely recognizable voices traversed and entered his mind, leaving the boy confused over the situation he was in. His mind switched between being blank and being thrown into a dark abyss and hearing random voices, making him feel like a floating leave on water. Just as his brain began to process the words, his lost senses acted up, dragging the floating boy out of the darkness and back to a warm and soft place.

Where was he? What was going on? Wasn't he dead?

Upon forcing open his eyes, the faces of people nearby came into view, all leaning towards his bed, staring at his face as if in anticipation of his wake.

"....."

Reynold blinked his eyes, confused.

'Was that all a dream?'

He met with Roy inside the temple and then he collapsed... was that a dream just like in the past ten years?

"Reyn."

A soft mutter from the side shattered his thoughts, proving his guesses to be wrong. As the man's soft hand caressed his head, the blanket over him was pulled up, covering him whole.

"Rest a bit more."

Reynold was dragged back into a dream without being able to resist.

- - - - -

It wasn't a dream neither was he dead. After days of fighting through the agonizing pain and struggling to keep awake, Reynold grasped the situation at hand, that he was brought back to the village by a mysterious red-haired man and was, since then, bedridden, unable to get away.

"You mean, that person is the man you were talking about the whole time?"

"Yeah..." Reynold's face was as pitiful as a lost little kid. "But why doesn't he stay by my side? I just want to have a conversation with him!"

Arthur, chuckling at his friend, pushed a bowl of pudding to Reynold, making him look even more dejected than before. "He said he had things to take care of and didn't want to disturb your rest."

"Mhm..."

"But..." Arthur's blue eyes scanned his friend from head to toe, for the third time in this day. "Don't you think... You're recovering since that man came?"

The boy's always pale and skinny face had some fat to it, despite him being able to eat only pudding and soup for the past few days. His coughing fits were decreasing in number and intensity, and his aching body felt a lot more at ease. Although bedridden, he was showing signs of recovery.

"He must've done something." Reynold's finger caressed the necklace around his neck. The thing that felt empty till a while ago was now filled with energy. Not just the necklace, but the other accessories as well. After using up all his energy to create more and fill them with his power, Reynold finally ran out of energy to recharge them and since then, his situation rapidly worsened. However now, they were brimming with energy, helping him regain his health at a fast speed.

"Hey..." Reynold put down the half-empty bowl and faced his friend. "If this continues, I... I'll recover enough to live for a bit longer."

Hearing the unexpected words, Arthur froze on his spot.

"Isn't it great? If I get to live a little bit longer, maybe around three... or four years, we can do a lot of things, right?"

"...A lot of things?"

"Yeah! Just think about it! I can finally create the orphanages I dreamt of! We can start traveling again and you'll create that swordsmanship method you've been seeking all this time! I can teach a lot more people and gather so many children to help. This village will also expand in size. So many people will flood in and a lot of farms will be created. If I can live even longer than that, I can also create some schools and put the people I've taught as their managers and teachers. That way, more children can gain knowledge and the people living here will have a job for them too!"

"...."

Sitting beside the bed, Arthur couldn't take his eyes off of the friend who kept blabbering on about his future plans. His hazel eyes were twinkling, gleaming with the rays of hope he'd lost at some point, and his face was brimming to the brim, akin to sunflowers blooming under the warmth of their star. His friend seemed to want to become a star himself, to shine down and nurture other lost sunflowers and make them shine just like himself.

"Sure, we can do all of them." Arthur let out a chuckle, his lips rising up to a smile without his notice. "But first, eat all your food and rest to recover your health."

"Alright!"

- - - - - -

It took him around ten days to finally gain permission to set foot out of the house. As soon as the first breeze of freedom caressed his face, Reynold ran at full speed to the building on the other side of the village, the first house in the village where he used to live.

"Mister!"

With a bang, the door flung open, and the boy jumped inside, knowing full well he'd find the redhead in there. He was asking the others to constantly report his actions and whereabouts to him, after all. Roy had gone out of the village a few times but returned here soon enough, and stayed in this house doing stuff that was hard for the villagers to understand.

The man flinched upon his shout, yet silently turned his way, scrunching his eyes and scanning him up and down.

"You're so mean, aren't you? Why didn't you come to visit me at all? I was waiting the whole time!"

Reynold didn't wait for a reply.

"Look, I'm pretty much fine now! It's thanks to you, mister! I thought I died the day I saw you in that temple. I still can't believe you're back; it's just like a dream!"

"...."

The young man threw himself at the chair beside his mister.

"I've got sooooo mannyy things to show you! You see this village? We built it together. Those children were all very helpful. I taught them how to read and write, and then they started to follow me around. Our traveling group got big in no time so we decided to settle down somewhere and here is the place we chose!"

The boy went on, talking about how his journey began and the places he'd traveled to, how he met his friends, the small jobs he took, and the things he'd learned. The whole time, the redhead listened to him in silence, with a faint smile plastered to his lips and a tender gaze in his eyes.

"Look, I've created these while you were gone. How are they? I used my power to fill them, but that wasn't enough."

Reynold reached out his hand to show off the accessories he'd made, which looked similar to the ones that Roy created for him. The redhead's gaze sank for a moment before he heaved a sigh.

"You can control that power now?"

"I tried so hard to learn it! I wanted to show it to you, but it'll be hard now with this body!"

Using that power left a great toll on his body and Reynold didn't want to risk his newly regained health on anything.

"There is actually something I wanna show you! Here, follow me!"

Reynold ran out of the hose, to a nearby building that used to be his office, not even glancing back to see if Roy was following him as if he was certain that he would. Opening the door and running down to the basement, the boy took something out of a tightly locked chest and held it in front of Roy's face.

"...A crown?"

"Yeah!"

The boy reached out his hands to place the crown atop the crimson strains of hair. The metallic thing sat nicely on Roy's head, looking as if it was meant to belong there from the beginning.

"Didn't you say you were a crown prince?"

"...."

"It was one of the accessories, but I made it so that it can change its shape once filled with energy. Unfortunately, though, I didn't have the power to charge it. Its original shape is a crown but it can be changed to look like anything one desires!" Reynold circled around the redhead, explaining his work process and boasting about his knowledge. "How is it? Do you like it? Aren't you mesmerized by my wisdom and skills? Hehe!"

"...."

The redhead took off the crown and fiddled with it, his slender fingers grazing the patterns engraved on it. The next instant, a glimmer of light flashed in the air before the crown began to shine golden, emitting a strong aura.

"Aren't you going to ask why I left and where I was?"

"Hmmm?"

Already busy playing with his newest tool, Reynold answered without raising his head or looking at his mister.

"I'll be glad if you told me... Or gave me an explanation about it but... Seeing that you are back safe is enough. I won't force you for answers if you don't feel like saying anything."

"....."

The artifact in the boy's hands easily shifted shapes, turning from a crown to a sword and back to a crown again.

"I know you don't have an ordinary life like the other humans, and I know you might someday disappear again. I don't want such a thing to happen but there is no helping it, right?" The boy's head shifted up, his greenish pupils staring deep at the red pair. "Just don't forget about me. That's enough."

"...."

After seconds of silently staring at each other, a smile bloomed across Roy's face, his tired glare gaining a strange luster to it. His hand reached out, resting atop Reynold's head.

"You've grown your hair."

"Uh? Yeah! How does it look?"

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"Amazing."

"Hehehe~"

It was the first time someone was patting his head since the day his mister disappeared, so Reynold was quite happy.

- - - - - -

"The Reason is dead?"

"Yeah."

"How is that possible?"

After talking about various stuff, Roy finally explained the cause of his absence.

"I was suddenly summoned by it... It was so surreal and hard to believe..."

According to him, The Reason, unable to resist the corruption of the chain, decided to dissociate itself into many essential powers and create demigods that could keep the world in check. To do that, it requested the man holding a part of the chain's power for help.

"It didn't ask you to be its successor or something, right?"

"No way."

"Then what?"

"It just asked me to stop the chaos from devouring more of the chain. It already aligns with my goals so I accepted."

"What about that friend of yours?"

"Samuel? I don't know. I asked it but got ignored. It'd probably requested help from him as well."

"Oh. So there is no god left for this world?"

"Well, the separated powers can act as new gods."

"Oh..."

Reynold scratched his head and glanced at the papers Roy was holding. He'd been writing complicated calculations on them and filling them with various information.

"That's why you decided to change your plans?"

"Yeah. A little bit."

"Hmm..."

Looking at the papers, it didn't seem like the plan was changed only a little bit. The system of operation for the temples would be turned upside down if these measures were taken into action.

'If it goes like this... We'll need a source of energy to trigger the start of everything.'

But they didn't have such a thing, and neither did they have the time to build one.

'Then what is he going to use instead of it?'

Reynold was sure that his mister had thought about it beforehand.

"By the way, I built a fourth temple while you were gone."

"Another temple?"

"Yeah, here."

Reynold put his finger at the center of a triangle created by connecting the three temples. Roy's eyes widened as his face lit up.

"That's great! We'll be needing it in the future."

A frown crept up to Reynold's face, a scowl that stayed hidden from his mister's sight.

"How did you come to think of it?"

"...After reading through your notes, I found out that one else was needed."

"Good job!"

Pat

A hand ruffled his hair delightfully and hidden under the messed up hair, a pair of hazel eyes were deeply glaring at Roy, dubious and alert.