World's Last Hope-Chapter 79: Rest Earned

Aria, Olivia, and Eric couldn’t stay for long as they were about to pass out from exhaustion, so they excused themselves.

They were so tired and exhausted that Aria and Olivia couldn’t even have a proper reunion with their families, as their bodies were just pushed too much to the limit.

*****

Slowly opening his eyes, Eric observed his surroundings. He was in a spacious room with white walls and a window from which the sunlight passed through, creating beautiful godrays.

Looking down, he realized that he was lying on a bed, though he couldn’t feel how soft it was as he still had his armor on.

"How long was I asleep?" he asked as he grunted in pain.

His whole body felt like it was on fire. It seemed that sleeping in a safe place had sent signals to his body that it didn’t need to limit the pain, and as a result, he was getting overwhelmed.

He wasn’t sure— it felt like he had slept for hours, and at the same time, he had never felt so tired in his life.

"Is this what happens when you push your body so much?" he muttered.

It was clear that he wasn’t going to leave this room for some time, so he gritted his teeth as he began to remove his cursed armor, feeling like his skin was being peeled as he did.

The reason he did that was simple— he had spent so much time wearing the cursed thing that he wanted to feel the comfortable mattress against his body.

And that need to feel the mattress was enough to override the pain he felt as he removed his armor.

After about a dozen minutes, he had managed to take it all off, leaving him naked.

Feeling his body relax against the mattress after being tensed for so long was simply an euphoric experience, so without even trying to deny it, exhaustion again overwhelmed him, and he drifted to sleep... or more accurately, passed out.

After some time, he opened his eyes again.

’How much time has passed?’ he wondered.

For all he knew, it could have been hours, days, or even weeks.

And despite all that rest, Eric’s body just refused to move. So all he could do in the moment was take a long rest...

It was something that he had been looking forward to anyway.

*****

Sitting on the bed, he glanced at his hand, clenching it a few times just to make sure that his body was working as intended.

"I really need to shower, though," he muttered as he glanced at the door in the room. Thankfully, it seemed that his room had a bathroom, so with no hesitation, he entered and turned on the water, making it as hot as possible.

In normal circumstances, his skin would have hurt under the high temperatures... and it did, but he couldn’t care less. The few times he had managed to bathe in the death zone had all been with cold water, so he was going to savor the feeling of the hot water as much as he could.

His mind seemed to wander as he recalled all the horrors he had managed to survive in such a short time.

"God... I’m really resilient," he muttered, amused.

"And all this because of you," he spoke coldly as he shifted his gaze to a window that was always open.

-----

[Current Essence: 4867]

-----

All this journey had originally happened because he had come to this world and needed essence so he wouldn’t die.

Thankfully, now he had some reserves, and as long as he didn’t begin to spend it all like a maniac, it should last him a considerable amount of time.

After washing his body, he dried off with a nearby towel and realized that there were clothes placed on the chair in the room.

He almost teared up looking at them—he was finally going to wear normal clothes! No more of that heavy and uncomfortable armor.

He quickly put the clothes on and looked at himself in the mirror.

The clothes were simple yet elegant. They were white in color with contrasts of red that matched well with his crimson eyes.

His hair was noticeably longer than before the expedition started, and there were dark circles under his eyes despite all the rest he had already gotten. Not to mention that his body ached with each movement.

But he pushed past the pain as he exited the room, because no matter how much each movement hurt, it still paled in comparison to the hunger he was experiencing.

Observing the hallway, he quickly came to a conclusion.

"Just as expected, I’m in Aria’s home... mansion."

Truthfully, he didn’t exactly know where to go, but he followed the rule of what to do when you’re lost, always go north! He didn’t know why, but on Earth, when people got lost in a forest, if they had compasses, they would start heading north—most likely because that was where the compass needle pointed.

’In this world, would compasses even work?’ he wondered.

After a few dozen minutes of wandering, he approached a door that seemed familiar.

Taking a deep breath, he pushed it open.

His narrowed eyes struggled to adjust to the light. Once they did, the first thing his gaze fell on was Aria, who seemed to be eating at the table.

And Grandmaster Gryndor, her grandfather, was sitting close to her, looking at her in pure disbelief.

Hearing the door creak open, Aria’s head instantly turned to the source of the sound, and her gaze fell on Eric’s.

In the next fraction of a second, she was beside him, embracing him in a hug.

He felt like his bones were going to crack, but nevertheless, he returned her hug.

"How long have I been asleep?" he asked.

"About three days," she responded.

"What about you?"

"I just woke up a few hours ago," she answered as she let go.

’It’s good that I haven’t spent too much time resting, then,’ Eric thought.

Before he could say anything, his gaze fell on the table, and every thought in his mind disappeared.

On the table, there was a golden turkey sitting at the very center, surrounded by what looked like vegetables that resembled potatoes. But potatoes weren’t the only vegetables on the table, as there were also carrots next to them.

There was also a cheese platter filled to the brim with all kinds of different varieties of cheeses.

And to the side, for what Eric presumed to be dessert, there was an apple pie that gave off an otherworldly aroma.

His mouth quickly—literally—began to water as he sat on the chair and began to eat, forgetting about anything else. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one, as Aria was sitting beside him and doing the same.

From the side, Aria’s grandfather watched them silently without uttering a word, clearly deep in thought. But fortunately, being a Grandmaster, he must have understood how both of them most likely felt after spending so much time in the death zone, and as such, he didn’t interrupt or try to talk to them in the slightest.

He simply let them enjoy a bit of rest.

The rest that they desperately needed... the rest that they had earned.