Chapter 46.5: Farewells, Once More

The bedroom which belonged to Tobias’ parents was vacant, aside from him and his mother, who were currently seated right in front of another, a few steps away. The desks didn’t have any parchments or documents to them, surprisingly, and the purple colored curtains were drawn open to let light in.

Tobias thought that the room was too bright. But it was fine, because at least, it wasn’t quite impossibly warm this day, miraculously.

“So then...” He began nervously, and coughed to clear his throat. His mother was, after all, oddly strict when it came to these sorts of things. “I guess this is good bye, mother?”

“Indeed, Tobias.” She nodded back at him.

He idly pondered for the shortest moment as to why exactly his mother was wearing one of her fancier sky-blue colored dresses, before shrugging that thought aside. She would, after all, say that farewells and wishing a person goodbye were occasions of their own, and that she needed to look presentable for such occasion.

“So... You want to embrace me, or anything?” Tobias asked, and his question was met with a subtle, yet not quite hostile glare.

“... If you are politely offering, then it would be incredibly rude of me to not take up that offer.” She admitted, and like that, she stood up and walked towards him.

He idly thought that her words would be much more convincing if she didn’t sound pleasantly surprised by the words, and if she didn’t sound delighted at the offer. But there was absolutely no way he was going to say that out loud.

Elizabeth’s embrace was surprisingly light this time, and she didn’t linger for too long before stepping away from him, and elegantly seating herself back in her chair.

She really must have wanted to embrace him, but she probably felt embarrassed at simply asking for it. Tobias knew that his mother had somewhat of a prideful disposition when it came to those things, after all.

“Alright. I’m still surprised that you’re willing to let me go without much fuss this time.” Tobias commented, and when she turned to him with a questioning gaze, he only continued. “I mean, the last time I left, you looked like you were about to ground me in my room again.”

“Do not be foolish.” She replied, along with a glare at his not-so-snide remark. “I know that you would be much safer with reliable allies by your side.”

He idly thought that the comment was mostly leveled towards Jacques, but he only gave a nod at that. By all accounts, the blonde-haired Swordsman really was reliable.

But that didn’t mean everyone else wasn’t reliable.

Bastille was a Sorcerer, who packed most of their firepower – the joke was not intentional there.

Clara’s arrows weren’t as widespread compared to Sorcery, but her critical intervention at times was just too valuable to pass up. And besides, she tended to act as the party’s heart most of the time.

Because really; Jacques probably had skewed moral priorities, Bastille didn’t really seem to care enough at times, and Tobias... was Tobias for a reason. Even he was that aware, at the very least.

And speaking of himself... Well, he just went and did his own thing, really.

“I guess you’re right.” He said, shrugging. But he did smile at her, and nodded. “I guess I’ll go say goodbye to everyone else, then?”

“Indeed. Stay safe, and good bye, Tobias. Make sure to return when it is your birthday, you understand?”

“Understood.” Tobias grinned back, flashing a thumbs up. “You should also stay safe, and good bye.”

He idly thought how strange the tradition of good byes in their family were. His mother did, after all, send everyone to their respective rooms, and told Tobias to say good bye to them one by one.

Maybe it was supposed to be personal like that, or something? His mother was strangely ceremonial and formal at times, after all.

But well, it didn’t really matter. So he only shrugged, stood up from his seat, and left the room without much more thoughts in mind.

***

The hallway which connected to the house’s rooms was wooden in nature, and it looked like it was polished, and furnished with shelves of potted flowers, and yet... There were no hung paintings or portraits – that was a luxury that they didn’t quite need, but can afford.

Tobias thought that it was strange, considering his mother’s regal, strange tendencies.

While the hallway was simple, one cannot deny that it simply looked... homely, if nothing else. This image of the wooden hallway would be something he would burn into memory, for him to remember time and time again.

And with that, he turned around, and began to walk. His footsteps lightly creaked against the wooden floor, and it was at this time where he had finally taken notice of them.

Because after all, when a person knows that it would be the last time they’ll visit their home in a long while, then they would only begin to notice the subtle details that they had grown accustomed to, would they not?

But then, his thoughts stopped, as he ended in front of his door, which served as his bed room. Well, Tobias’ and Andre’s shared room, really. The wooden door was relatively plain in appearance, as neither of them had any interest in decorating it, or anything like that.

So without even knocking, he stepped in.

Their shared bedroom really was a bare one; with the almost too spartan beds and lack of furniture. The curtains being closed most of the time also added to this bare aesthetic, but for this occasion, Andre seemed to have opened the curtains for some reason.

That being said... lying on one of the beds with his arms behind his head like a pillow was Andre, who only idly looked up at his older brother.

Both of their eyes really were the same shade of dark brown, Tobias noted. But those eyes looking up to him where lightly narrowed, and seemed to be wary of him.

And finally... It was Andre broke the tense, silent stare off.

“So... You’re leaving again, huh?” That voice came off as more indifferent than anything, and Tobias could understand why that would the case.

They really did not have the best relationship – that was a mutual, unspoken agreement from both sides.

“Yeah.” He nodded. “You’re gonna be the eldest brother in this household again, so you better protect them, alright?”

“I’ll try.” Andre shrugged. “But you can probably do a better job at that if you just stay here.”

“You can always ask Old Man Magnus to train you, or something.” Tobias offered, and his words were instantly met by a glare.

“No thanks. Unlike you, I like to be unbothered most of the day.”

Yeah... Andre really was like that, wasn’t he? But Tobias can’t deny that his younger brother being this unruly and hardheaded only reminded him of his younger self sometimes – if he wanted to look in a cracked, scuffed mirror, that is.

Call him vain, but Tobias believes that even his younger self was better than Andre during his current age. More stubborn, sure, but definitely more refined in a way as well...

Well, it didn’t matter. Each person was unique for a reason, were they not?

“Alright. If you got nothing more to say, I’ll just go now then.” Tobias said, and then he was only met by a shrug.

“Yeah, just don’t get yourself killed.”

But that simply how they talked to each other, after all. They did, after all, forget each other’s birthdays often. It made Tobias strangely happy to know that some things never truly changed, even after some time had passed.

Once more, he left that room, and moved on to the next person to say good bye to.

***

The first thing Erise did when Tobias opened the door to say good bye to her – was to literally punch him in the face.

...

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“So... What did I do to deserve it this time?” He slowly spoke, as he carefully lowered the fist he caught in mid air.

But he only thought that her fist was far too close to his liking – his reaction speed wasn’t quite fast enough, in his opinion.

“Wow...” Erise breathed out, amazed, as she turned her gaze between her older brother, and her hand. “That’s... You’re definitely going to be alright, then!”

He blinked. “What do you mean?”

“You go out and adventure, right?” She spoke, with sparkles in her eyes. “Beating up monsters and saving princesses... I wanted to see if you’re as fast as your friends told me you were!”

“Huh.” He blinked, and then only gave a shrug. “Well, I don’t know what exactly they’re telling you, but I guess I can say that whatever it is, I can at least back it up.”

“Yep!” She chirped out, letting out a series of excited nods. “And that’s how I know you’ll be alright!”

He said nothing else, but only raised his hand. And in the next moment, he lowered his hand into her head, and gave her an affectionate head pat. The action made her briefly stiffen and freeze, and she slowly turned up to look at him.

Tobias noted that her eyes were similar to his own – that is to say, they were dark brown as well. But dark as they may be, they were still shining with a light of excitement which could only be emitted by a young child like herself.

“Alright.” He intoned, and raised his hand from her head. “You guys also stay safe, alright?”

“Yep!” She replied, with an overtly happy nod to match her tone. “You should also do that, okay?”

“Mhm, yeah.” He nodded, and then turned around to leave. But when he did, he only felt a hand tug on his tunic, and Erise only looked up at him with a frown. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m probably annoying at times...” She admitted, and he had to blink at her self-awareness. But he nodded at her statement, which only made her pout. “You didn’t have to agree there!”

“My bad, my bad.” He apologized, raising his arms in surrender with some mild amusement. “What did you want to say again?”

She only looked back at him with a minor glare. But eventually, she finally seemed to calm down, and let out a small huff. “I wanted to say that you should take care of yourself. And... Good bye, Tobias.”

“Thanks.” He said, nodding to her. “Good bye then, Erise.” And with those words, he finally turned around, and left the room.

He idly wondered since when exactly did she become more serious? While she was still much a child, she seemed to have grown quite a bit of wisdom. Was it because of his friends who tended to bring with them airs of intellect of their own, which also made him slightly wiser than before...?

Well, thinking about it didn’t really matter too much. Maybe in the future, he’d look forwards to seeing how much wiser she’ll become.

So once more, he stepped outside into the corridor of their rooms, and set out towards his next destination.

***

The room Tobias entered was more so a study room than a bedroom, with the desk and cabinets most likely filled with parchments and papers of different accounts. There was even a globe-like construct at some corner... and Tobias really didn’t know where it came from.

But in the center of such study room was his father, seated at his desk, while staring passively at Tobias.

And after that, his father gestured for him to seat himself on the chair in front of him, so Tobias obliged and did so.

“This is...” He trailed off, and idly looked around. The curtains were thankfully closed, because the window behind his father would just simply blind him if they weren’t. “This is your personal study room, huh.”

“Yeah.” Pierre nodded. “I thought it might be good to show you this place, especially since your mother and I kept telling you not to go here when you were little.”

Tobias blinked at his father’s words. On hindsight, everyone else really was banned from the study room. And looking at the countless documents lying around, he could understand why that was the case. But then... “What changed this time?”

“Your old man wanted to show off that even he could work from time to time.” Pierre admitted, then let out a shrug. “Anyways, that doesn’t matter now. What’s important is... I wonder when’s the last time we had a man-to-man talk like this, eh, Tobias?”

“When it was my birthday.” Tobias answered, even though he knew that it was a sentimental question. “You got any advice for me?”

“Nope. I’m afraid what I know in life probably won’t be used by you, since you’re gonna be an adventurer and all.” His father said, shrugging. But after that, his eyes seemed to glimmer mischievously. “But if you want some advice on how to please your woman –”

“What woman?”

“That response was way too quick, my son.” Pierre said, with a knowing grin. “Your father is more observant than you know, and he can see that you seem to like that girl... Clara’s her name, right?”

“...” Tobias wordlessly stared at his father with a complicated expression. “I’m not sure if I should be surprised that you remembered her name.”

“Wait, why?”

“I remember the day you called me Charles when you were drunk.” He raised a finger, and pointed it towards his father. “You’re literally my father. How the hell did you even forget your own son’s name?”

“Oh, you still remember that.” Pierre hummed to himself, and gave a shrug. “If it makes you feel better, that’s supposed to be your name.” Tobias winced; he couldn’t imagine himself being named such a name like that. “Judging from your expression, it’s good thing your mother named you after her grandfather then, don’t you think?”

“Yeah I don’t like that name.” He finally said, and gave a heavy sigh. “Anyways, if you don’t have anything wise to say, I guess it’s time for me to leave, then?”

“Alright, but one last thing.” Pierre said, and he turned to face him with a questioning glare. “Sheesh, I’m gonna give some real advice this time. Sometimes, you should learn to let go of some things which might just drag you down.”

Tobias blinked. Then he hummed, and tried to think carefully about it... “But what exactly does that mean?”

“You’re an adventurer, so let’s say you just finished doing a quest somewhere and now you’re hauling a chest worth of treasure, right?” He nodded at the hypothetical question. “And suddenly, a dragon comes outta nowhere and demands that treasure. So while you can fight, you should know that it’s probably a good idea to just run away at that point.”

“... So basically, that’s another way to say ‘run when you’re in trouble’, which is exactly the advice you gave me last time.”

“Oh. I forgot about that part.”

“I can’t believe you sometimes...” Tobias sighed. Then he stood up from his seat, and sent a respectful nod towards his father. “I guess I’ll just go now. Good bye, father.”

“Alright.” Pierre nodded back. “Good bye, and good luck, my son.”

What a father, really... But once again, that advice might be useful at some point, but not now. That, or Pierre was just bullshitting him again.

Tobias didn’t really know at this point, and talking to his father was like talking to someone who was supposed to make sense, but his words didn’t make sense at all.

... On hindsight, now that he thought about that latest statement, maybe it was he who didn’t make sense, sometimes?

Well, there really was no use thinking about it. He only stepped out of the study room, and moved towards the final family member he would say good bye to.

***

The door in front of Tobias was identical to the door which served as his shared bedroom. But the largest difference between those two doors was the small, embroidered, pink ribbon of yarn, which was no doubt made by Catherine to hang as decoration for her own shared room at some point.

It was... oddly Catherine in her own way.

So he raised a fist, and knocked against the door twice, before letting himself in. Politeness beget Politeness, or so he said to himself.

As usual, the room’s curtains were drawn open, letting in sunlight stream through the room unblocked. She really did prefer to keep them open, didn’t she...?

Once upon a time, maybe that’s the reason why despite the fact that they were half twins, they ended up sleeping separately from each other. Because he really did not like too much brightness.

And there she was, in the middle of the room. She was sitting on a wooden chair, as she was still somehow wearing the dress she wore yesterday. But despite that fact, her dress was pure white, not a single speck of dirt seemed to tarnish such pure dress, and while the petals had all fallen off, it was still an amazing, yet impossible sight to see.

Mostly because it was almost as if she didn’t just walk through entire streets with said dress, while her hair was still perfectly done.

“So...” Tobias coughed, as he still eyed her warily. “Why are you still wearing your dress?”

“It is an occasion to see you good bye, is it not?” Catherine replied, her hands kept carefully draped over her lap... Much like a certain mother, really. “And besides, mother insisted. The only reason why this was not done last time was because it was simply too out of season for dresses like this.”

“I should have known...” Tobias muttered to himself, before letting out a sigh. Then he turned to face her again, and his eyes were narrowed. “With the way you’re talking... Are you just content with treating this good bye with such formality?”

“Mhm... well, of course not.” She replied with a frown, then raised her eyes to meet his gaze.

Both of their eye colors were the same color of brown, yet their shades couldn’t be anymore different.

Hers was light – an amazingly wonderful color which looked like coffee with too much milk poured into it.

In comparison, his eyes were dark – something that people might say was only ‘four or five shades away from being black’.

And yet... He knew that even if they didn’t share the same physical features aside from their general sense of looking similar at a second glance, he knew that Catherine was still his twin sister, after all.

And he knew that despite her intentions, she tended to only reach out for him, and only offer her hand towards him. It was usually up to him to accept such offered hand in the end.

That was what it meant to be twins, after all.

But Tobias only thought that right now, her carefulness and consideration was a burden that she didn’t need to exercise – especially not with them of all people.

So for the first time, Tobias stepped forwards, and wrapped his sister in an embrace of his own. He didn’t see her expression, but from her stiffness, it seemed like she didn’t foresaw his action and was taken by surprise. But she eventually wrapped her arms around him as well, and hummed with delight.

No words were spoken then, and they only continued to embrace each other. Their bond was somewhat special like that, after all. And while they had grown distant over the past few years, especially last year, they would still know that Tobias was still Tobias, and Catherine was still Catherine.

...

There was a subtle tug here and then, as he awkwardly tried to signal to his sister that they were stuck in that position for far too long. But she ignored such tugs, and only clung on to him tightly. So he was left there, awkwardly standing in place while he received physical contact for far too long.

... If she wasn’t his own sister, then he might have grown annoyed at some point.

Eventually, she did finally let go of him.

“This is good bye for now then, dearest Toby.” She said, with such a bittersweet smile that it made his heart pause for the shortest moment. “Stay safe, and I’ll see you again some other day.”

“Good bye, Cath.” Tobias replied, and then gave her a slow nod. “Take care of yourself, alright?”

“Of course.” She said, then in a twist of fate, she grinned to him and flashed him a thumbs up.

The action made him blink slowly, mostly due to surprise. But he only replied with an identical gesture of his own, and finally, he left the room.

***

The way Tobias silently left his house, with everyone on their rooms just doing their own things... It greatly reminded him of last year’s early spring, where he set off to become a Mercenary...

On hindsight, didn’t he just repeat that occasion, except this time, he was an Adventurer instead? And this time, he had their blessings instead of him simply slipping away?

... But then again, weren’t Adventurers just Mercenaries, but towards monsters and Magical Dungeons instead...?

Well, that didn’t really matter as well. All Tobias understood was that his family was rooting for him, and wishing the best for him.

His friends were also supporting him directly... So then, it would be impossible for him to ever give up on his personal quest now, right?

And at the end of the village path leading towards the wilderness, his friends stood there, waving at him.

“You already finished your business with them?” Jacques asked.

“You make it sound like what I’m doing is illegal.” Tobias retorted back, and his words only made their Leader give an appreciative hum.

“To some degree, I guess.” Bastille replied, shrugging. Tobias swore there was some jealousy in his town, but he didn’t quite know why that was the case. “Anyways, let’s go now.”

With those words, they all lined up, and marched on from the village. While they glanced behind themselves every now and then, Tobias only kept his gaze on the road. Because he already burned the sight of his village into his memory, after all.

And of course... clinging too close to his right side was none other than Clara. He idly flicked his gaze towards her, and while her cheeks were mildly flushed, she still seemed to keep her eyes locked with his.

Yeah. On hindsight, if she never confessed to liking him, then he would have never realized what those subtle mannerisms were for.

“I’ll miss them.” Clara admitted with a sigh, and her words only made Tobias nod. “But we can always visit them again next month, right?”

“No.” Tobias shook his head. “That’s too soon. We’re wasting a lot of time just traveling back and forth.”

“Hmm...” She hummed to herself with particular discontent, but only nodded. “Fine. I guess you’re right.”

And just like that, there was silence, and they were only accompanied by the sounds of their footsteps, the sound of birds chirping, and the sounds of leaves rustling. Once again, Tobias would say that Clara was clinging a bit too much to him, but he decided to allow it.

Because, after all, she was Clara. And he didn’t really mind her company, even if she was too physically close at times... But really, that was just a fancy excuse to say that he liked her to some degree, anyways.