So it's true, that Red rocket is actually here on the island. Man, I haven't seen the Golden God in ages! I wonder if he still remembers me after all this time...

"But we have to think of it another way." Cecily noted, "If he's here, then that means whatever Olyahim is doing is such a threat that the Gods need to put a stop to it."

"Gods? Oh no, not again..." Shaid twitched.

"Eh, again?" I laughed, "Oh, so you've met a God before as well, Shaid? Who was it, what did they-?"

"The Sun God killed me." His Pupils shrunk back as he spoke about the traumatic ordeal, "Probably killed Schnell too. No, I'm certain—That short bastard is the reason Olyahim is doing all this in the first place."

"The Sun God...!" Cecily covered her mouth.

"For you to just blatantly forget to mention such a thing to me..." I glared back at him, "You... You knew the Grandmaster Adventurer Schnell Douglas!?"

"E-Eh?" He was stunned, to say the least, "Grandmaster... What?"

"No, there's no getting out of it now!" I pressed him for more details, "I heard you loud and clear, you mentioned Schnell just now, right?! Hey, come to think of it, he was traveling the world around the same time you were alive too, so surely you're a fan!"

"...What's wrong with him?" Shaid turned to my wife.

"He gets like that whenever Schnell's name is mentioned." She sighed, "Don't worry about it."

"No, more importantly..." Shaid explained, "I'm no fan of Schnell, what's there to be a fan of even?"

"What!?" I jumped back, "Are you serious!? Such a great man, his arduous and awe-inspiring journey across the world that ended with him establishing the very islands you stand on! His legacy still lives on even to this day, plastered on a sixth of the world map! He-!"

"I'm not a fan, I'm his best friend." Shaid gave an annoyed deadpanned stare, "Jackass."

"...What?" My Eyes glew once I heard this fact, "You and Schnell were... Best buds?"

"Came from the same town." He continued, "I helped him and his pop out at the smithy on occassion. Still, what do you mean by that fancy Grandmaster title, amigo? I don't remember him ever getting such a thing."

Wow! So Olya and Shaid were friends of Schnell of all people! It makes sense, Schnell's Handbook did say he had friends along for the journey... Ah, but wasn't one of the characters called Alp, though? Hey, wait a second, now I see why Olya wants to revive Schnell!

"Honey, I think we might have gotten the wrong image of Olyahim." I turned to her.

"Of course we didn't, what the hell are you saying!?" She shot back, "That geezer stole our daughter away from us!"

"Yeah, but he's friends with THE Schnell!" I replied.

"..."

".....Okay, sorry." I sulked.

She just doesn't get it. The man whose presence is said to have made you feel like you were atop mountains, the man that singlehandedly unified the world. Such a great man might actually trudge the land once more, and I get to live through it! What's more, it's gonna happen right here—On this island!!! Ooooh, I so wanna witness that scene! Please, please don't make me miss the show, author...!

"Who're you praying to?" They saw me with both hands clasped, "Now's not the time for that."

"Now is the only time that's appropriate!" I retorted, "I swear, if I don't get to see Schnell revive personally, I'm gonna kick my creator's ass!"

"Amigo, you seem to be putting that guy on a high pedestal." Shaid laughed, "Sorry to burst your bubble, but Schnell isn't that much different than you are I."

"My ass, in the Books he was huge." I showed with my hands raised high above my head.

"Oh that, well yeah, he's built like a brick wall." He agreed, thankfully, "But he's nothing more than a self-righteous jerk with a habit for games. Sure he had those ideals, but he never got to actually accomplish them. Like I said, we all got wiped out in the Lair in Sibirus."

"B-But surely... No, that's wrong though." I realized, "He couldn't have died back then because who wrote his Handbooks?"

"Right, those are literally his autobiography." Even Cecily chimed in, surprising both of us to silence, "...What? With a husband like mine, I was obviously forced to learn at least a few things about Schnell."

"...Putting that aside, amigos, I have no doubt in my mind that Olya wrote it in his stead." Shaid nodded, "After all, he said he wanted to be an author."

"Really, just because of that?" I smirked confidently.

"Well, there's that, but also the fact that he's the only one out of the three of us who could write it." He revealed, "Neither Schnell and I know how to write. Hell, even reading is something I just recently picked up from Olya."

"Schnell's... illiterate?" I felt my world crashing before me as the perfect image of my childhood hero shattered.

"Don't cry, it'll be okay..." Cecily hugged me, knowing full well the grief I had felt at this moment was equivalent to losing a loved one, "Here, blow."

Blowing my nose on the hankie she took from my breast pocket grounded me back to the situation a bit. So that's the true story of Schnell. Right, if I were to meet him now, I'd probably get a totally different person than the man I've imagine him to be all my life.

"You're a real ass, Shai." I glared at him, "Ruining my perception of the perfect man, how dare you!"

"Wuh-!? Blame Olya, not me!" He pushed the blame onto his boney friend, "That bastard liked exaggerating like never before! I'll be surprised if he hadn't killed me off just for plot relevance!"

"Ah, now that you mention it..." I recalled, "Yeah, the Handbook said he bought the Island of Exuul in a guy named Shaid's honor."

"That's a total lie, he was never even there!"

"Gah, but that was my favorite part of the story!"

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***

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"Alright, let's think about a way to sneak out, then we'll..." Cecily noticed me not budging from my spot, "Hey, snap out of it! Come on, Lune, it's not the end of the world!"

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"Easy for you to say!" I shot back angrily, "You don't have an idol to inspire you, so you wouldn't know the feeling of losing them!"

"Because I am my own idol!" She yelled, "God, get up already. Shaid, lead the way."

"About that..." He pointed outside, "I think it's gonna be easier to leave than we thought."

Wondering what he meant by this, both of us made our way to the window to peek through and lo and behold—Not a single soul was present at the village. It was morning, and we saw a couple of them walking the streets already before we got up here, so we expected it to be bustling with activity. But no, not a soul was present.

"They must've heard Olya's roar and scrammed." I thought, "Then, let's go."

"Go where?" Shaid asked.

"Towards them!" I pointed happily, "If Auros is there, then our victory is assured!"

"Ahem, dear." Cecily reminded me, "This guy doesn't quite have the best relationship with the Gods, remember?"

"Ah, right..." I backed down, "But still, if we go there, we'll probably find Olya by extension, no?"

"Hmm, that certainly makes sense..." She muttered, "In any case, we'll leave the final decision up to Shaid."

"Me? No, you go on ahead." He chuckled, "The Fighting God might help you find your daughter, so you have to."

"We're not going anywhere without you." I extended my hand, "We need someone to talk Olya out of his crazy plans, after all."

Staring at us with a bit of a stunned look, he ultimately guffawed like never before as he shook my hand once more. It seems he's taken a liking to us, which is good. Scoring brownie points now increases my chances of popping the question...

"By the way, could I get an autograph?" I Materialized a pen and paper, "I mean, you ARE the Grandmaster Adventurer's best friend!"

"Have you already forgotten, amigo? I can't write."

"...You're useless to me." I turned my back to him.

"Eh?! Wait, what happened to you needing me!?" He ran after me.

"I can talk just fine with the old man, don't worry."

"But you're not his friend!"

"Who said I was gonna communicate with words?" I raised my fists.

"He'll kill you!" He panickedly darted his gaze around, "You, wife! Help me out here, your husband is gonna die!"

"Sorry, but with how things stand, you'd best learn how to spell your name at least." She gave a tired smirk, "I don't think he'll wanna take you along with him if you don't."

"Man, it's annoying being popular!" He complained as I happily handed him the pen and paper.

Woo! It took a bit of guilt tripping and some help from Cecily, but I'm actually getting a genuine autograph from one of my heroes! We'll ignore the fact I just learned he was my hero a few minutes ago, okay? Keep it between us. Oh, but I gotta hand it to the real MVP who taught Shaid how to write his name. This is the best gift a wife could get her husband! Mwah~!

"Ew, stop that." She looked at me with disgust, "I thought kissing a subjectively important piece of paper was something only characters in books did."

"You're not wrong." I winked, "Ah, but one thing not all storybook heroes do is make sure to appreciate their amazing wives. Mwah!"

"Hrm..." She grumbled, annoyed that I dared to do that in front of a new acquaintance.

"Ahh, you sure are lucky to have such a woman." Shaid looked at us warmly, "I always did want a lady friend of my own, but sigh, they only went after my looks."

"That sounds like such a first world problem, but okay." I shrugged.

"I'm serious! Ah, but maybe you should give her some food to eat." He reasoned, "She's a bit too thin, I'd say."

"I like her just the way she is, thank you very much!" I hugged her in defiance.

"Ah, I might have to eat more from now on, though." She thought of something before donning a mischievous grin.

"What? I mean, whatever you deem is right, but why is that?" I looked at her.

"Dear, I forgot to mention this, but..." She held her stomach, "My period, it hasn't come yet."

...Eh? First period? Class? Damn, she started attending BasicEd finally. Wait, what the hell am I saying? That's obviously not what she meant!

"You're serious!?" I hoisted her up with all the happiness of a job well done.

"You're serious?" Shaid said the same words but with a totally different emotion, "You're saying that now, right before we face Olya and the literal God of Fighting?"

"Might as well get it off my chest now while I still can." She giggled before turning to me, "Well, it's just by a few days though, but it should've been around the time we were still traveling. There's a chance it's a false alarm, but I wanted to tell you."

"In that case, we better find Nelly quick!" I grabbed her hand and ran down the stairs of Olya's house, "We ought to tell her as soon as possible that she's gonna be a big sister again!"

So it's happening! Those sleepless nights weren't in vain! I'm gonna be a dad again! Woohoo, we did it!!! Oh, but I guess the timing is pretty bad after all. I would've left her to stay back at home if I had known. I guess the only thing I can do now is to try and get this over with quickly. Running through the jungle, we hurried to their location, but yet another pleasant surprise had waited for us in the middle.

"Ah!" I couldn't believe it, "Lee!"

"Whoa, you two?" He waved at us with a smile, "Hey, don't get too surprised just over lil' ol' me."

"What do you mean?"

"Look." He pointed to his right.

Doing so led to us spotting an incredibly lucky trio running full speed towards us. Well, I say trio, but I can only recognize my eldest daughter and her caretaker.

"Mom, dad!" Nelly immediately jumped to hug us, "How did you-!?"

She's short on breath. She looks like a mess, but... She's alive and in one piece. My sweet, sweet daughter is alright! Heh, guess I better keep the news a secret for just a little more, in that case. Wouldn't want her dying from a heart attack now of all times!