Hello, Readers! I am celebrating my birthday with extra chapter updates, so please enjoy this special chapter release of 4 bonus chapters! 🥳

(Lurelia’s Birthday Bonus – Update 2/4 🎉)

♡ To all readers who purchased these chapters before my Birthday: I can’t express this enough – Thank you for your support. (*ˊᗜˋ*)/ᵗᑋᵃᐢᵏ ᵞᵒᵘ*

Raeyan opened his eyes.

The first thing he felt was an excruciating pain that made it difficult to move even a fingertip and a strange lethargy.

He knew the identity of this unfamiliar sensation.

The power of immortality, regenerating after being on the brink of death.

Although he had experienced it many times, it was a process he could never get used to.

He wondered how many years it had been since he last felt physical pain in his body, it felt oddly new.

‘As expected, I’m alive.’

He looked up at the sky while waiting for his body to fully recover.

No, could that even be called a sky?

In the black space where it was unclear what was ground and what was a wall, the ceiling above where Raeyan’s gaze reached was full of cracks.

Raeyan guessed.

It seemed that this place was inside a rift.

His last memory was being caught in the storm as the rifts merged.

Finally recovered enough to move, he slowly raised his upper body.

The storm must have been fierce, as his clothes were reduced to rags barely hanging on him.

Even those were covered in blood, making for a sight that would involuntarily make one frown.

“…I need to get out.”

He remembered tightly gripping the communication magic tool just before losing consciousness. Fortunately, the tool had fallen nearby.

He tried to use it, hoping it might work, but to no avail.

Raeyan picked up the magic tool and staggered to his feet. Then he started walking aimlessly.

He was trapped in a vast space where it was impossible to tell where the beginning or end was.

“Can’t even use my power.”

Since he had been alone when he woke up, he had no idea of the whereabouts of the other subjugation team members who had been caught up with him.

It would be fair to assume they had been completely wiped out. After all, even Raeyan himself had only survived thanks to his immortality.

It was bitter.

During the short subjugation, they trusted and followed him even though he wasn’t their commander… but in the end, what awaited them was death.

He felt pathetic.

His goal of returning triumphantly to stand proudly before that person seemed laughable now, as he had accomplished nothing.

And yet.

‘And yet, I want to see you.’

His savior, who had breathed warmth into his once cold life.

As he was walking on endlessly like that.

Whoosh-!

A faint light, like a firefly, illuminated the path ahead of his steps.

As if guiding him.

“……”

Raeyan stopped abruptly, not following the light.

The light also stopped advancing and remained at his feet.

Although it wasn’t a living creature, it seemed to have a will of its own, waiting for him.

His first thought was suspicion.

This place was presumably inside a rift.

In such a place, would the entity at the destination where this light was leading him be friend or foe?

He couldn’t blindly follow the light in a situation where nothing could be certain.

Yet somehow, this light felt familiar.

It was a warm light that he felt he had encountered somewhere before.

After a moment of hesitation, Raeyan began to move his feet.

Whoosh, whoosh-!

As if delighted that he was following, the light swirled excitedly as it led Raeyan somewhere.

When he could no longer distinguish where he was walking in the darkness that looked the same in all directions, a wind blew from somewhere, carrying flower petals made of light that scattered like a flurry of blossoms.

When he closed his eyes and opened them again, what he saw was…

[We meet again.]

A being sitting against a shining tree.

For a moment, Raeyan’s eyes wavered greatly.

“…You are.”

[Have you met my child?]

The identity of the woman asking him in a gentle voice was…

Arcelia.

The scribe of Ishtar, and Elodie’s birth mother.

He realized why the light that had been guiding him felt so warm.

It was because the being who called him was Elodie’s birth mother.

Raeyan answered, looking at Arcelia who was smiling up at him.

“Yes, I have met her.”

After eons of time, wandering through space-time and dimensions, they finally met.

If it weren’t for Arcelia, they might never have met.

That’s why Raeyan always felt indebted to her in his heart.

[I’m glad. Truly.]

On her lap, the light had transformed into a white cat, rubbing its head against her.

Suddenly, Raeyan felt a sense of dissonance.

He wasn’t hearing Arcelia’s voice with his ears, but understanding it in his mind.

Like when conversing with gods or sins.

[Irkala tried to drag you underground. I deceived Irkala’s eyes and snatched you away, binding you to the boundary.]

It meant that if it weren’t for Arcelia, he might have been dragged underground.

If that had happened, since Irkala considered his existence a thorn in her side, he might have been killed despite his power of immortality.

“I am indebted to you once again. Thank you.”

[All of this is for the sake of the world. There’s no need for thanks.]

“No. Regardless of the intention, it’s only right to express gratitude when one has received a favor.”

[The descendant of Vietan is quite upright.]

After a moment of hesitation, Raeyan asked her with difficulty.

“Do you know the whereabouts of the team members who were caught up with me?”

[Yes.]

“Are they safe?”

[…I couldn’t save everyone. If they’re alive, they’ll be scattered throughout the rift.]

It was a storm that made it impossible for everyone to survive from the start. So the fact that there were survivors was encouraging in itself.

If even one person was alive, he would return with them. Wasn’t that his duty to those who had trusted him?

Although it seemed daunting to find the scattered team members, he planned to just start walking aimlessly again.

But before leaving this place, there was something he had to do.

“Elodie is looking for her birth mother.”

He couldn’t leave alone.

Although he didn’t know why she was here, he had to take Arcelia and escape the rift.

“Let’s go together.”

Raeyan took a step towards her, but Arcelia shook her head with a weak smile.

[I am bound to the boundary. If I leave this place, the delicate balance between the underground and the surface will collapse.]

As Arcelia raised her arm, chains extending from the tree and various parts of the rift revealed themselves.

These chains were holding Arcelia suffocatingly tight to this space.

For a moment, Raeyan was at a loss for words.

“Is this Irkala’s doing?”

Instead of answering, Arcelia looked up at Raeyan.

[I have a favor to ask of you.]

“…Yes.”

[Would you keep it a secret that you met me? From my child, and from Richard too…]

“Why?”

[I don’t want to be a stumbling block in my child’s future.]

Stroking the white cat with slow movements, Arcelia closed her eyes tightly.

[As Ishtar’s scribe, I foresee that in a future that doesn’t end in destruction, I must not be present.]

Raeyan couldn’t give any response to those words.

It wasn’t a matter he dared to interfere with.

After hesitating for a long time, Arcelia asked him with difficulty.

[My child, Elodie… has she grown up healthy?]

“Yes, very much so.”

[…And Richard, has he awakened?]

“Yes. Elodie woke her father.”

At that, Arcelia smiled brightly, as if unburdened.

As if she had no other wishes besides that.

She gestured, and the cat purring on her lap scattered back into light and gathered.

Arcelia sent the light to Raeyan and said.

[I’ll give you a guide. It will lead you to where your companions are.]

“Wait-!”

No matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t leave alone like this.

But when he turned back, the tree of light was nowhere to be seen.

Of course, Arcelia’s figure was also gone.

[Then, farewell.]

Only a faint, dispersing voice echoed in his mind.

***

I knew Raeyan was alive, but that was all.

Even though he was alive, I couldn’t know where he was, so I had to be satisfied with just confirming his survival.

[Is your business finished?]

“You really don’t know his exact location?”

[I don’t know. So if you want to make a contract with me, go kill the existing contractor.]

“You bad puppy! How can you say such a thing?”

Eek! I pinched both cheeks of Envy, who was saying such terrible things so casually.

[What insolence-!]

“Aw, I let you off because you’re cute.”

[Th-this, wh-what-!]

I quickly summoned Envy back into the sealing stone, flustered by being treated like a puppy. This way, he can’t complain.

Turning my back on Envy’s sealing stone, I walked towards the iron door where Dad was waiting for me, straightening up from where he had been leaning.

“Is the conversation over?”

“Yes…”

I felt somewhat awkward, probably because I had caused Dad various worries.

“He said he’s alive. That’s good, right?”

I looked up at Dad with a bright smile, trying to smooth things over.

Dad sighed, looking at me as if he couldn’t help it.

“It seems like there’s more you’re hiding, but I won’t ask. Just don’t do anything reckless.”

“Hmm, I’ll try.”

Dad sighed deeply again, apparently not satisfied with my vague answer.

But thinking about what might happen in the future, I couldn’t promise not to do anything reckless.

After all, I had to take risks to protect the world from Irkala.

Dad stared at me intently with a complicated expression. I could guess what he was thinking.

“The more I look at you…”

I finished Dad’s trailing sentence with a question.

“I’m the spitting image of Mom, right?”

“…Yes.”

Dad answered frankly, though startled.

As expected, it seemed that thinking about Mom was painful for Dad.

But I didn’t want it to be that way.

I wanted to remember Mom, even for the sake of my parents who sacrificed themselves to protect me.

So that mentioning Mom’s existence would no longer be a source of pain.

***

As soon as I returned to my bedroom and washed up, I fell asleep as if fainting. The fatigue accumulated in my body from the forced march of the past few days was considerable.

The next day, suppressing the desire to sleep more, the first thing I did was contact Mario.

[Do you know how surprised we were when you suddenly returned home? You should have told us before moving!]

“Sorry, sorry. There was something urgent I thought of.”

[That’s too much.]

After enduring Mario’s whining for a while, I finally got to the main point.

“I can’t tell you the details, but this much is certain. Raeyan is alive.”

I thought he would naturally ask how I knew that, how I was sure, and pry into the details, but Mario unexpectedly replied calmly.

[I thought as much.]

“How?”

[Because he’s the captain. The captain will definitely return. Until then, we must protect the mercenary group well. All of us members will work together. This is the captain’s home, after all.]

I could feel a strong faith in Raeyan from Mario’s answer.

Such strong trust must have developed because they were comrades who had overcome all sorts of hardships together while establishing the mercenary group.

Couldn’t that be considered another kind of family?

While I was having such warm thoughts, Mario suddenly changed the subject.

[By the way. About the large rift that appeared in the Black Ravine.]

“Yes, what about the rift?”

[They say they’re going to entrust the research to one of the Four Directional Magic Towers, and currently, the South Tower is the most likely candidate. Is this okay?]

“…Of course it’s not okay!”

I jumped up from my seat in shock.

We had just defeated the Empress, and now Gabe Jenade?

It was one problem after another!