Aoi and Edward joined in the conversation shortly after Addison dropped the bomb on me… Lila, had just passed away a few days after I left. It was in her sleep, a painless death… I.. Should have been there… I failed the Duke and Duchess… I couldn’t even be there for her during her last days.

As I try to hold back my tears, Edward hands me a black ring…

(Edward) “Don’t be so hard on yourself Kuro… No one knew when it would happen… Lila… we bought this for you, saying it reminded her of you.”

Why… would she do something like that… for someone like me… I don’t deserve this kind of kindness… I couldn’t even be there for her…

(Aoi) “It’s ok to cry brother, your big sister is here… We were going to look for you tomorrow in town and tell you… but you found us first.”

It was explained to me, that the bandits were actually taken care of the day before, due to the escorts that came with Addison. They were going to turn them over as soon as they entered Reunion and find me.

I couldn’t say a word… All I could do was place the ring Lila bought me on the finger next to the elves ring. I’m not sure what else we talked about… I couldn’t think straight after that. My thoughts swirled around into a jumbled mess in my head.

Everyone wanted to go back to the main house together, but I couldn’t yet. At least I decided I would see Lila’s grave before meeting up with the rest of the family in the capital. Though they were worried about me, I assured them I would be fine... and told them to leave without me.

After everyone left the next day… all I could do was sit there… full of regret. I try to recall the rest of the conversation that we had the night before but only could remember broken pieces. Lila wanted to spend the last of her days in the Manor she grew up, so she brought Aoi, Edward and Lilly with her. That would be why I never saw her children… just Lilly.

Addison had to stay in the capital due to political reasons, and even had to disguise himself for… some reason. My thoughts are still cloudy… All I can think about right now is going back home… back to Lila.

Running as fast as I could… I ran and ran… until I reached the Manor where I met Lila. Once I entered the gate… it was like the earth was trying to swallow me whole with every step. The guilt of not being there for her last moments...The regret of not spending more time with her...even just one more second...The despair...of never being able to see her smile again.

The maids and butlers saw me and rushed over to me, concerned for my well being.They would even worry about someone like me… who couldn’t even be there for Lila in her last moments… Even the guards came to check on me. They all knew how much I loved Lila and Lilly, and figured out how devastated I was.

They brought me to Lila’s grave, it was on a hill outside of town, next to her parents. There were flowers placed in front of their graves. Since I haven't found anything like incense in this world, all I could do was take Lila’s favorite dress, the things I had bought for her and one of my scales.

And burn them… it’s a tradition, the belief is that the act of burning the things important to the dead… it will reach them in the afterlife. It was the least I could do for her… Maybe with this… she’ll forgive me a little for not being there for her… All I could do at that moment...was cry...cry and embrace her cold tombstone…

Remembering the time we spent together, every moment replying like an old cassette... How she would always tug on my tail with those little hands of hers, knowing how much I hated it. She was such a mischievous little girl when she was young. We even scared some of the maids so bad they fell to their knees. I...can still hear her giggling voice… Her cute smile every time she went to see me…Those times she would just run over and give me a hug for no reason... Things… I can never experience...ever...again.

It...never get’s easier… When those important to us...leave first. I keep telling myself the same thing over and over. Lila wouldn’t want me to be so sad, she’d want me to be happy...to smile. Yet, I can’t… no matter how much I try.

“The living...have to live on...for the sake of the dead…”

That’s right… I have to keep going… keep living my life. Their memories, I’ll live on with them…as long as I remember them… they’ll still be alive in my memories. For mother...for father...for Arlene...and Lila...I’ll continue living… So, please rest in peace… I’ll be fine… I promise.

Spending what felt like an eternity in grief, I pick myself up and drag myself into the Adventurer's Guild. I have to report in to Harvey and let him know what happened with Erin. I can’t stop here, I still have Lilly… I will keep her safe no matter the cost, so rest well Lila. Hopefully when I see you again… you’ll have forgiven me.

Once I reach the guild I see a familiar scene, that idiotic Beer Thief is arguing with Damian, and by arguing I mean Damien was being yelled at while he was grinning. At that moment the Beer Thief flips the table towards Damien. Before I could step in I see Damien put his hand forward and the table stops mid air.

(Damien) “Calm down Apeton, I’ll buy you a banana~”

(Apeton?) “IT’S ASHTON YOU DEVIL WEARING HUMAN’S FLESH!

*Sigh*... I am NOT in the mood for this. I slowly walk towards them as Damien flicks his wrist putting the table back to it’s previous position.

“Shut it Ashton, or I’ll make it so even your mother won’t recognize your ugly mug.”

I guess it’s because I was wearing my cloak, or maybe because I grew, but Ashton didn’t seem to recognize me… Soon after I get the feeling of dejavu as we end up in the training area...again. Does he not learn?

(Ashton) “Ready yourself Fiend! I shall show you what happens when you anger the great”

(Damien) “APETON!”

Pft! Damien… that was well timed! Well played… well played.

“So Mr. Apeton, to be fair I won’t use any weapons, getting taught a lesson twice by the same person should be enough.”

As soon as I finish my sentence I close in on Ashton, it seems my last attack was burned into his mind and he tries to sweep at my feet. He seriously doesn’t learn does he? He must be a one trick ape.

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As Ashton tries to knock me off my feet with his spear, I jump over and stomp down on it, causing him to lose his grip on his spear. Picking up the spear with my foot I kick the spear away and run towards Ashton. He throws a punch aimed at my face as I close in on him. With my left arm I aim for his wrist, hitting his fist into the air before sliding towards him with placing my right fist into his side.

As Ashton flinched in pain I pulled my right fist back slightly and raise my palm directly into his jaw to keep his loud mouth shut. The sound of his jaw being forced shut resounds through the room before I follow up my attack with a left hook aimed at his back. Avoiding his spine the impact from my attack causes Ashton to stagger to my right.

The crowd was filled with an almost eerie continue to use Ashton as a human punching bag. By the time Harvey came out to stop me, I had broken Ashton’s nose, and he had multiple bruises on his face and stomach. And may...have a broken rib...or three.

(Harvey) “Do you never learn Ashton? Kurogane beat you once already… What made you think you could win AFTER he grew?

Ashton holding his nose to stop the bleeding looks like he starts to think… for once. I pull off my hood and mouth cover before I speak.

“Sorry Harv… He was being absurdly annoying today and I just had to shut him up.”

Harvey simply walks up to me and places his hands on my shoulders.

(Harvey) “I heard old friend… I’m sorry for your loss, but please… don’t take it all out on the poor fool.”

Still unable to put two and two together Ashton just stares at us. That was until Damien steps forward with his usual grin.

(Damien) “You know Ashton, He’s the same boy who beat you up a couple months back.”

Finally, everything seemed to connect for Ashton… How slow can you be?

(Ashton) “He’s that little whelp from before?”

Didn’t I tell him to shut up already… Before Ashton could say much more I throw a handful of Somanilla pollen in his face causing him to fall unconscious. I then follow Harvey to his office to tell him about my escort of his grand daughter.

(Harvey) “Thank you for the help Kuro… Although I’d love to be able to send you off to the capital to reunite with your family… There has been a change.”

A change… I don’t like the sound of that… Change can be good! Just… not when it’s said like that…

(Harvey) “The heightened monster activity was just a start… A new Demon Lord has risen into power… and our sources tell us they the Demon Lord intends to invade. One of the Kingdoms Dragoons along with a small company of hand picked knights are to reinforce the front lines. And We need skilled Adventurers to help escort them. You would be going with Damien and Kalibur on this quest. You also… may decline, but I would feel much more assured if you joined the expedition. Especially if things are worse than we expect.”

A new Demon Lord eh… It sounds like your typical novel… if I ignore something like this, they’ll invade… No… I won’t let them bring the war to my family. I failed LIla… I will NOT fail Lilly and Addison.

“Got it Harvey… I’ll go. I don’t care if it’s a Demon Lord or a Demon God, try to harm my family and they’ll have to do it over my dead body.”

What if the fighting get’s to the Forest… or even the capital… They can’t reach my family, not while I still draw breath. While I think about Lila I slowly rotate the ring the gave me.

(Harvey) “Don’t push yourself too hard Kuro, it’s ok to decline and leave it to us… Although I would be more assured if you went.”

“I’ll be fine Harvey… It’d probably be better if I go, gotta keep busy. I’ll meet up with Damien and Kal after I stock up.”

Harvey looks at me concerned, but I simply smile and leave. I’ll need to make sure I have enough stuff in case things get bad. The way I normally fight is anti-personal, I fight only small groups usually… But in the case of an actual war, I need longer reach and more utility.

My haul from my stocking was; several pounds of powdered sugar, about 20 liters of lamp oil, 5 Zweihanders; the reach for these would be helpful with larger groups, and larger monsters. There was also a massive amount of… throwing daggers. I’ll just have to settle for throwing things since I can’t seem to find a damn crossbow. There was plenty of composite bows, long and short bows… never again...

After double checking all my stuff, and of course stocking up on food I return to the Guild. Damien was leaning back in his chair, his feet on the table. All while Kal was sitting across from him eating his meal.

(Kalibur) “Looks like we finally get to work together Kurogane. I’ll be sure to pay you back for last time.”

After he speaks he slowly picks up a small piece of meat and eats it. Damien chimes in right after with his usual snickering face

(Damien) “Ha! Seeing you shut up that ape was fun. I would pay to see it again! Traveling with you should be more entertaining than I thought!”

Definitely...the troublesome type that Damien, although I don’t mind it in moderation. We then went through the details of the job, we would first meet up with the knights in the town of Lerwick. We would then guide the knights and take care of any monsters we encounter on the way until they drop off supplies at Fort Dusk.

That was it, not too hard sounding should be pretty straight forward. We plan to depart in a week's time giving me some time to drop by the Elf settlement. While avoiding prying eyes I run to the forest reaching the forest the next day.

This time I packed enough food it seems and I still had food left when I reached the city. I simply wave to the Guards and they smile before letting me in. When I reached home I could see Lena sitting in front of the house with her nose in a book.

Silently, I sneak up behind Lena and slowly lower the book I bought her into her view. As I move it back and forth her head turns with it before she grabs it.

(Lena) “Kuro! You’re home! This is for me right! Thank you!”

I pat Lena on the head as she smiles at me, I missed her and ...Roy...? As if I had summoned him with my thoughts, Roy had appeared next to me.

(Roy) “Kurogane! Welcome home… Now fight me! I won’t lose this time and I swear I’ll make you use both swords!”

This muscled brained genius kid… Gah… I can’t even insult his intelligence since he’s actually smart. Just how did he end up this way? Everytime he see’s me lately he just wants to fight… Well, it is fun so I’ll just go with it and follow him.

Once we reach our normal sparing area I pull out the sword I bought him and hand it to him. He looks at me blankly for a second… Then his face lights up, you can almost see the sparkles in his eyes.

(Roy) “Thanks Kuro! How’d you know what I wanted?”

… You’d have to be blind, deaf and beyond help to not know the best present for Roy would be a sword… This kid’s a once in a lifetime genius...right? Roy shows me a beaming smile as he draws his new sword and his regular shield.

Wasting no time, Roy moves towards me to slam his shield into me with a shield bash. I step back far enough to avoid it and block his horizontal slash that followed with my short sword. Twisting my body a bit I attempt to kick Roy in the stomach, but a wall of earth blocks my attack.

Right after my foot meets the with of earth, Roy swings at me again forcing me to kick off the wall and deflect his sword away from me. The tip of his sword then erupted into flames! That was dangerous!

I instively roll away from Roy and pull out my long sword to continue the fight. He’s finally good enough that I can be a little more serious… or so I thought. It didn’t take long for me to overpower Roy after that. He doesn’t seem used to having to fight a dual wielder.

That would probably be due to the fact that that gap between attacks is less, giving him less time to react then before. Although he’s starting to use more types of magic while he’s fighting now! Definitely a sign of growth, he’s getting good. If he continues growing like this he’ll become strong, probably much stronger than me.

After passing out my remaining souvenirs I spend the rest of the day hanging out with Roy and Lena. Doing stuff like this, keeps my mind off of things. Thinking about it too much won’t bring them back… and the departed don’t want to watch those they leave behind unhappy. I have to smile and be happy, for everyone’s sake.

The remaining 2 days I spent, went by fast. If I wasn’t sparing with Roy I was spending time with Lena as her pillow while she’s reading books. Strangely enough I think the two of them have grown a bit, since in my dragon’s form Lena feels to be around the same size still.

This was a shame, I was after my growth spurt they both could relax reading books like we used to. However, it’s nice to see the both of them healthy and happy. Before I set off to go back Lena hands me a few books to read for when I’m bored and Roy hands me a bunch of Somanilla Flowers and a few magic books at my request. Giving them both a hug before I left I departed back to the town Lila was buried.

This job should be easy… It’s just a regular escort mission away from the front lines. I should be able to finish it quickly.