With Donovan gone, the party eventually recovered — not unlike how refugees got back on their feet after a hurricane had swept through, devastating everything in its path.
"W-well then..." Roland fixed up the collar of his top before gesturing at his mother's tree while looking at his little brother. "This is my mother's, Lara Aizenwald's, tree... It's smaller than the rest cuz it's only been twenty years since it was planted here, but here it is. Oh, and about these flowers... apparently, she really liked white flowers in general. It didn't matter what kind, just as long as they were white. That's why when her sapling was planted here, people who came to visit would plant a single flower every time."
"Seriously...?" Reivan's eyes widened as he scanned the surrounding sea of flowers.
His big brother chuckled. "Well, it eventually got to the point that this place was too full of them, so Father forbid people from adding more — since there were a few people who wanted to dig up the ones already here just to make space for their new ones. Oh, but they were nice enough to leave some space right next to the tree... which is gone now, since I planted my own white flowers there when I was a kid."
For a moment, Roland just silently looked at the tree wistfully, before his shoulders jumped, apparently remembering something. He beckoned for Reivan to come to him. "Rein, c'mere for a second."
"Okay." Reivan obediently followed, walking towards his big brother's front.
Wearing a big smile on his face, Roland placed his hands on his little brother's tiny shoulders before gazing at his mother's grave. "Mother... no, Mom. I've come to visit again. And this time, I brought the handsome and smart little brother I always tell you about."
"Why does it feel like you're not actually complimenting me...?" Reivan grumbled. After feeling his big brother prompt him by squeezing his shoulders lightly, Reivan dipped his head and beamed at the tree. "Hello. My name is Reivan Aizenwald, the handsome and smart son of Rodin Aizenwald and Vianna Aizenwald. I've always wanted to come here."
He'd always been interested in the woman his father had married before he got together with his mother. Curiosity was part of it, but more than that, he had just wanted to give the woman his thanks in some way.
'Thank you very much for giving birth to my big brother. I certainly think that your death is a shame, but if it weren't for your sacrifice, I would not have him with me here today. For that, I am extremely thankful.'
With his eyes closed, Reivan sent a silent prayer to Lara Aizenwald, wherever her soul might be — if it still existed, that is. Even though he was somewhat aware of how death worked from what the serpentine woman, Zell, had told him, Reivan wanted to believe that the Archon was wrong — that there was some kind of afterlife. And in that afterlife, he hoped Lara was able to see how loved she still was.
'Please rest in peace. I will make sure to support my big brother in your stead.'
Whether it be in his future duties as king or the dangers that his own special ability entailed, Reivan made a promise to himself and to the woman who'd gifted him a big brother, that he would be there to help Roland out to the best of his ability.
'Well... I don't think I can help him with his married life though...'
Cracking his eyes open, he peeked towards his sister-in-law, who'd been very worked up about the realization that her absence could potentially encourage her husband's infidelity.
'Come to think of it... is Aizen a monogamous country when it comes to marriage...?'
A strange question popped into his mind while he closed his eyes again. As a general rule in the isekais he'd read, harems were always a possibility. Especially in stories that were set in medieval-like worlds.
However, he'd never seen someone with more than a single wife. And all the wives he'd seen were very possessive of their husbands, which gave Reivan the impression that polygamy wasn't an accepted practice.
'Hmm... well, I guess it doesn't really have anything to do with me? So who cares.'
He inwardly shrugged. In his years as Ken Kagami, he'd had no experience with romance at all, but he did read about it a lot. And he naturally heard a few things from his very perverted sister.
The impression that Reivan got from all of those was that romance was hard. It also seemed like a pain in the ass, and he actually thought that the only reason people even got into relationships at all was either a dislike for being alone or a desire for bodily pleasure.
As such, he could barely imagine being part of a relationship with a single woman, much less a bunch of them.
'If I did have a lover... It'd be great if she was a bit older than me and had a big pair of boobies...'
His impression of relationships aside, Reivan was still a man.
Thankfully not being aware of the thoughts running through his little brother's mind, Roland chuckled while ruffling Reivan's hair.
"Don't just talk to my mother in secret like that. You're supposed to talk out loud. Just like in normal conversations."
"Oh, sorry about that..." Reivan smiled wryly while scratching the tip of his nose.
Roland shrugged it off, then gently pushed his little brother towards the purple-haired knight. "It's fine, just remember that we're supposed to treat them as if they were here with us. Now, go on and get out of here. You have some stuff to do, and you shouldn't keep the Sword Star waiting."
"Fine..."
Even as he grumbled, Reivan turned around and sent one last look at the smallest tree, surrounded by a sea of wishes from thousands of people.
'If I ever figure out how to revive people from the dead, I will make sure to bring you back too.'
His gaze then ran through the surroundings, at the trees that towered over them protectively.
'And all of you as well.'
With a promise that even he did not know if he could accomplish, Reivan led the way out of the clearing, with Valter following along behind him.
----------------------------------------
Once they were out of the clearing, Reivan continued climbing up the mountain in somber silence, ruminating about his recent experiences and the new place he was in.
When he snapped out of it though, he realized the stupidity of climbing up the rest of the mountain with his short legs when he literally had someone who could fly and teleport at his beck and call. He'd had no problems walking to the grave since it was a sign of respect for a dead person, but in this case, it was just a pain.
"Sir Valter, is there a quicker way to get up there? I mean, I heard from your earlier conversation that you can't do that teleportation technique here, but... is there another way?"
"Of course, Your Highness." Valter nodded. "We can simply fly there, or the Sword Star can teleport us to him in an instant. He can likely hear us as we speak. If you wish for it, we could arrive at our destination immediately."
"That's good..." Reivan heaved a sigh of relief before rubbing his chin in thought. After a few seconds, he nodded. "Let's fly instead. I wanna admire the scenery though, so please don't fly too fast."
"Understood. I have the perfect mode of transport for that."
A thick plume of black mist suddenly burst out of Valter's chest before it gathered into the form of a falcon as it perched itself on his shoulder. With a cry, it materialized into an actual, living falcon. Its eyes glowed with purple light as it regarded Reivan with a piercing gaze.
Seeing the familiar creature, Reivan smiled as he took out a fried pork skewer from Zoro's stomach. "Hello there, Freed. Want some?"
Being the friend of an insatiable glutton like Helen, he naturally kept a stock of food hidden — never mind that he was a bit of a meat lover himself. It was a strange fact, but the best place to store his stock of food was in Zoro's stomach — which, unlike normal spatial rings, stopped time for its contents.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
Freed disappeared from Valter's shoulder and reappeared atop Reivan's head, perhaps finding the boy's shoulder too small to perch on. It then bent down and pointed its beak meekly at the fragrant meat skewer, still letting off a bit of steam.
'Wow. He's surprisingly light... or rather, he doesn't really feel like he's there at all.'
Reivan reached up and let the black falcon make quick work of the skewer. With his other hand, he stroked Freed's raven-colored feathers — which the falcon was all too happy to let him do, judging from how its eyes narrowed in apparent pleasure.
"You like that? I'm pretty good at petting things, you know?"
Freed screeched happily in response before he moved to levitate in front of Reivan, transforming into a much larger version of itself. Unlike its previous form though, this state was obviously geared for combat. Its purple eyes looked much fiercer than before, showing off the ferocity of a wild beast. Each and every feather on its body seemed as if it would be soft to the touch but gave Reivan the strange feeling that they could easily cut through steel — which wouldn't be so strange, seeing as this beast was an Ascendant.
'Holy shit... when the hell do I get a cool form like that?'
His uncle could transform into a giant wolf and his mother was likely the same. And according to his [Supreme Insight] hybrids like him wouldn't get the ability. Even his friend, Zoro, had one too. He wanted something along those lines, however, all of his abilities were relatively low-key and not flashy at all.
Reivan inwardly heaved a sigh.
'It really sucks that I'm not really a human but I look pretty much like one...I mean, aren't I just a human at this point?'
But at the same time, it would be really annoying if he was reincarnated as a slime or something weird like a vending machine. Although the scenario would've been really entertaining to watch or read about, it wasn't all that appealing to him if he had to live through it. Given the choice, he would pick being a humanoid every single time.
All in all, his feelings about it were a bit complicated. He was happy that he was still humanoid, but at the same time, he wanted some add-ons.
'It'd be pretty cool if I had horns... although I guess those would be really annoying if I want to wear a hat or helmet. Wings, maybe? Oh, but then they'd be a pain in the ass while sleeping... Ugh. I don't know anymore...'
Very slowly, he was starting to think that maybe it was better to not have any weird add-ons.
"Your Highness, please ride on Freed." Valter gently picked Reivan up and placed him on the large falcon's back. "I believe you'd have a better time on his back than getting carried by me."
"Good idea." Reivan nodded, remembering how awkward it was to get carried like a princess whenever it happened. He then looked down and stroked the feathers which were much larger than the ones he'd caressed earlier. As he expected, they were still quite smooth and pleasing to the touch.
This made his eyes widen at the realization of something.
"Uhm, do I have to grab the feathers while we fly? Won't it hurt?"
Freed released another cry as he gave Reivan a proud look that seemed to say not to worry about anything.
Valter smiled. "You do not need to worry about that, Your Highness. Freed just said that he's okay with it. Furthermore, he's quite resilient, so a little bit of pulling wouldn't do much to his feathers."
"If you say so..."
Still feeling a bit reluctant, Reivan tried pulling on Freed's feathers gently, getting a feel for how much force he needed to exert to keep himself in place without hurting the majestic beast. However, he gradually understood why the overgrown bird and its master were so self-assured.
'I'm just a mortal, so I won't be able to do anything to an Ascendant like Freed...'
Even if he used every single power-up in his arsenal, Reivan would likely not be able to pull out any of the falcon's feathers. Maybe because of how endearing it was at first, he'd momentarily forgotten the gap between the realms they were in.
'Come to think of it... I didn't use [Supreme Insight] on this guy yet...'
He'd been too busy trying to look like a mature member of the royal family while in the guardian knight ceremony so he wasn't able to do it then. And straight after the ceremony, Freed had disappeared, most likely going back inside Valter's soul.
This was the perfect time to take a closer look.
~^+— Unit's Statistics —+^~
Name: Freed (True Name - Freedom)
Species: Spirit Beast - Storm Falcon (Variant)
Realm: Ascendant
Age: 1131
Sex: Male
Special Abilities [None]
Might: 16,000 Extra Skills Elemental Affinities: [Darkness] [Wind] [Qi: Unleashed] [Foresight]
[Storm Creation] [Storm Manipulation]
[Spirit Bond: Valter]
Favor: (Fondness / Curiosity) 52 / 100 Threat Level: Absolute (Threat cannot be resisted)
The first thing Reivan noticed was the bright red text that pretty much announced his inability to do anything if the creature ever made the decision to snuff him out. And with sixteen thousand might, it was clear that he could be dealt with by even the most casual of sneezes.
'The extra skills seem obvious enough too...'
Just from their names, he could somewhat figure out what they did, so what next attracted Reivan's attention was the part right next to Freed's name.
"True name...?"
The moment they heard Reivan's unconscious mutter, Valter stiffened as his eyes widened, while Freed's head swiveled to glare at the boy on his back.
"Your Highness..." Valter hesitantly chose his words. "Does your ability... tell you what Freed's true name is, perhaps?"
"Uh... yes, it does." Reivan scratched his cheek with a wry smile on his face, having realized he'd — once again — discovered something he shouldn't have. "It's Freedo—"
Favor: (Fondness / Curiosity) 52 / 100 → (Hostility) -70 / 100
'What...?'
Before he could even finish what he was saying, he was shocked by the abrupt notification.
"Freed! No!"
Suddenly, Reivan's vision turned dark as his world shook.