The Lost Home

I held Eris in my arms, and she was very quiet.

She must have come back to herself. We had only just left the palace gates when a tremendous bell rang out overhead, shaking me down from the air to the ground and making me clap my hands over my ears.

It was the Bell of Galdius. The bell stood at the very top of the Silver Palace, forged four hundred years ago by a legendary craftsman named Galdius. In truth, it was a magic tool; every time it rang, several magic crystals had to be used to supply it with mana, and the sound of the bell would carry to every corner within the Asura Kingdom.

One chime meant: border conflict.

Two chimes meant: crisis of royal authority.

Three chimes meant: crisis of national extinction.

Eris looked at me with terror in her eyes. Trembling, she said, "C-C-Cousin, that was three chimes just now, right? What on earth happened? Did the Devil Race attack again?"

"Impossible. Even if the Devil Race had attacked, there's no way there wouldn't have been any news at all. I think it has something to do with that light just now. Let's go wait at your house. Lord Saulros should already have entered the palace to discuss countermeasures. We'll wait at home for him to return."

And so, amid the panic and unease, five hours passed.

A little after eight that night, Saulros returned home. He did not ask why I was staying by Eris's side. Saulros sat straight down on the sofa and told us what had been discussed at the audience before the throne today.

"Fittoa is gone."

"What do you mean, Grandfather? What does 'Fittoa is gone' mean? I don't understand."

"This afternoon, a fast horse brought a report. The Fittoa Territory vanished in the afternoon. That means everything within the Fittoa Territory—every person, house, tree, animal, and plant—disappeared. Only barren land was left."

"Grandfather, what do you mean, everything disappeared? I don't understand. What about Father and Mother? They should be in Roa, right? Did they disappear too?"

"Most likely. A little after seven, the fastest horse sent back word. They had already inspected a hundred kilometers of land in the Fittoa Territory. There was nothing. But at present, they have not yet confirmed Roa's location."

"No, I don't want to lose Father and Mother. I'm going to find them."

"Eris, don't be ridiculous. The whole country is in chaos right now. Every local lord is afraid their territory will follow in the Fittoa Territory's footsteps, and all official roads have already been placed under martial law. No one is allowed to go out."

"Grandfather, then what about Father and Mother? What about our family? The maids at home, the butler—did they all just disappear, and we're going to do nothing?"

"Eris, calm down. Have you forgotten? Those people who suddenly appeared on the road today. Many of them were transported directly onto the ground. If they were the people from the Fittoa Territory, then they have hope of surviving."

"Yes, Dolin is right. Eris, stay by Dolin's side for the next few days! After all, this happened in our own territory. I will be very busy these next few days and won't have time to accompany you.

Dolin, I'll trouble you to take care of Eris."

"Don't worry. I will."

I brought Eris back to my house and arranged a room for her beside my own. Seeing her looking as if her soul had left her body, I secretly leaned close to her ear and said, "Have you forgotten the surprise at my birthday banquet? Ghislaine has already gone to fetch your parents. According to the schedule, even if they haven't reached Ars yet, Ghislaine should already have met up with them.

"If Ghislaine is by their side, your parents will be even safer."

"Really? Cousin, are my parents really safe?"

"Yes. I promise you. I'm guessing they must have been transported to some unknown place, and they're on their way here with Ghislaine! I have some things to take care of over the next few days. Once I've dealt with them, I'll go with you to Roa to find your parents, all right?"

"Mm. I believe they'll be safe too. I'll wait for you to take me to find them."

Pitter-patter, pitter-patter. The strong Eris's eyes filled with water. She cried until she looked like a person made of tears, but she still tried hard to make herself seem strong, not weak, and looked at me with a determined gaze.

Just then, my maid Annie came to find me.

"Young Master, the master asks that you go to the study to see him."

"All right, I understand."

I wiped the tears from Eris's eyes with my hand and gently stroked her head.

"Go to sleep. Get under the blankets and sleep. In your dreams, go see whether your parents have already made it safely home."

I had Annie stay with Eris, then headed to Darius's study.

After I knocked, the door was pushed open. The one who opened it was neither Darius nor his maid.

James pushed the door open and came out of Grandfather's study, his face full of worry. After greeting me, he left Grandfather's villa.

"Dolin? Come in!"

"Yes, Grandfather." I entered the room and, as instructed, sat down on a stool.

"Do you know about what happened to the Fittoa Territory?"

"Yes, I know. The entire Fittoa Territory disappeared."

"Yes. Truly terrifying. Do you know what magic could accomplish such a thing?"

"I'm sorry, Grandfather. I don't know what magic could do that. But if it was magic, I think only God-tier or Emperor-tier magic could manage it, right?

"Also, I think a Blessed Child with a special ability might be able to do it too."

"A Blessed Child? That is indeed a possibility. What do you think of today's incident? Was it an enemy attack, or a natural disaster?"

"I'm not too sure what exactly it was. But in a few days, we should be able to tell. If it was a natural disaster, it should stop here. If it was an attack, then the enemy should have some other follow-up moves."

"A very sound analysis. I need you to investigate the reason the territory disappeared this time. Are you willing to go?"

"Yes, Grandfather. I am very willing to serve you."

After a few more words of small talk, I turned and left the room. Just as I was almost at the door, I heard, "I hear you've been rather close to Hilda's daughter recently?"

"Yes. After all, Grandfather, my father has a very good relationship with Aunt Hilda."

"Is that so? Then forget it. But you still shouldn't get too close to her lately. In the future, if you want her, I can give her to you."

I wasn't quite sure what those words meant. They were a little hard to answer.

Seeing that I didn't reply, Grandfather Darius simply waved his hand. I took the opportunity to leave the room.

The next day, I talked things over with Ariel. It was about converting the exhibition into an orphanage. After all, most of the orphans currently taking part in the exhibition were from Fittoa Territory.

At a time when their parents and relatives were gone, their lives needed to be guaranteed.

I told Ariel the location where I had placed the supplies I had prepared in advance for those orphans.

Then I had her requisition the exhibition in her own name, letting those children move into the exhibition naturally, and establish the Fittoa Territory Children's Refugee Camp.

That way, I could avoid being investigated for knowing the inside story of Fittoa Territory's disappearance in advance, while also letting Ariel's reputation among the people rise to new heights.

If this matter was handled well, every citizen of Ars would praise Princess Ariel's virtue.

Faced with something that brought such benefits, Ariel looked at me as if she were looking at a demon. It was as though she thought I had caused the Teleportation Incident.

I had no way to explain it clearly to her, so I could only say vaguely, "I guessed that Fittoa Territory might suffer a disaster. That's why I made preparations in advance. I couldn't make all the people take refuge. I could only do everything in my power to save a group of them. As for exactly why I knew the cause of the disaster, don't try to guess. Every possibility you think of is wrong."

Ariel seemed as if something in her heart had suddenly been put down, and she said, "I thought you did all this to put me on that seat. Since that isn't the case, I feel much better. I'll properly handle the things you arranged for me. You can rest assured on that point."

"Mm. I'm going to investigate the reason Fittoa Territory disappeared, so I may be gone for a few days. The better your reputation among the commoners becomes, the easier it will be for you to be assassinated. That white-haired girl from last time was quite good. Keep her by your side to protect your safety!"

"Is she someone you arranged too?"

"No. She's someone sent by the heavens to support you in ascending the throne."

After saying that, I left. I hoped she could understand what I meant.

After leaving Ariel, I prepared my luggage, then brought Eris with me and hurried toward Roa City in Fittoa Territory.

Because this was an emergency, I didn't take a carriage. Instead, I rode a horse and brought Eris along with me on the road.

The two of us and one horse traveled through an empty, uninhabited wasteland, giving people an inexplicable sense of dislocation.

After entering Fittoa Territory, the road we traveled was no different from the last time I went to Roa, but the scenery on both sides was completely different. The farmhouses built amid the fields, the trees beside the road, the farmers toiling in the fields, the wheat in the soil—all of it had now turned into stretches of desolation.

Aside from dirt, not even a single blade of weed could be seen on the ground.

As far as the eye could see, it was like a desert. Other than the monotonous red-black earth, nothing else could be seen.

This truly was a catastrophe. I didn't know what had caused the Teleportation Incident. But if I found out who had caused this event, even if he had initiated the Teleportation Incident to save the world, I would not forgive him. I would definitely stop the Teleportation Incident from happening again.

But there were no ifs. The Teleportation Incident had already happened. I also didn't know exactly how the magic to return to the future was used—whether it changed the future, or returned to a different timeline. But for now, when it came to events that had already happened, I was powerless.

Eris said nothing in my arms. In truth, she was not as tough as one might imagine. When she encountered the loss of loved ones, she would also cry out loud. When she encountered things she couldn't deal with, she would also be frightened and uneasy.

Although I had talked to her yesterday and told her that Ghislaine might be by her parents' side, since she hadn't seen them with her own eyes, she would still let her imagination run wild, right? After all, there was nothing anywhere proving that people who stayed together would be teleported to the same place. It was possible they had still been together one second earlier, only to be sent to different places when the teleportation happened.

With her father and mother's feeble combat strength, it would be fine if they were teleported to a safe city. But if they were teleported to a dangerous place, then things would most likely bode ill rather than well.

According to the history I knew, although I didn't know where Philip and Hilda had been teleported, they had definitely died after the transfer.

In that subtle silence, Eris and I advanced together for two weeks, going deep into Fittoa Territory. At last, we finally arrived at Roa.

This should be Roa, right? The city walls, the houses—everything was gone. That made it extremely difficult to tell the exact location.

But the dried-up moat was still there. And the hill where the Boreas family's ancestral residence had stood within the city was still there, so I probably hadn't mistaken it.

Eris got down from the horse in my arms and ran to the location of the residences. The foundations laid when the houses had been built could still be faintly seen in the ground.

She stroked the ground, her face filled with loneliness and desolation. In eyes that had not cried the whole way, glittering tears once again welled up one by one.

She turned her face away from me, as if trying to stop the tears from flowing. She kept wiping them with her sleeve. But even after her sleeve was soaked with tears, she still couldn't stop crying.

I felt very sorry for her. A twelve-year-old girl—even if she was usually very strong, after suffering such a disaster, the fact that she could still avoid crying and making a fuss was already extremely rare.

I stepped forward and embraced her, holding her tightly in my arms. She suddenly cried out loudly with a wa, like a flood breaking through a dam. Her constant sobbing turned into hysterical shouting.

All the bitterness in her heart, all the sorrow and pain born from the bleak sights she had seen along the way—she released them all in one breath.

Only when the sun set and the silver moon rose did her crying gradually stop.

I set up the pot for the fire and began preparing dinner. Eris sat on the ground, staring at the bonfire before her without saying a word, still sobbing once in a while.

After the rice was done, I filled a bowl with rice and handed it to Eris.

She looked at the rice in the bowl without saying a word. I helplessly shook my head, then also filled a bowl of rice and sat down beside Eris.

"When I was an adventurer, I encountered something. At the time, I was passing through the Three Magic Kingdoms on the road to the Biheril Kingdom.

Between the Three Magic Kingdoms and the Biheril Kingdom, there was still a very large stretch of land. That land was probably about the same size as our Asura Kingdom.

There were many small countries in that land, and every small country was constantly at war. Attacking one another and waging war had already become the norm.

Every time there was a war, the victorious country would go to the enemy's territory to burn, kill, plunder, and loot. Many commoners became slaves, taken by the enemy country's soldiers and sold all over the place.

On the road, I once encountered a group transporting slaves. That band of scattered soldiers had more than five hundred people, and they even wanted to turn my party into slaves as well. Later, they were all wiped out by me.

After the scattered soldiers were eliminated, there were still more than a thousand slaves left. To keep those slaves from freezing to death in the wind and snow of that icy world, our party escorted that group of slaves to the nearest town to take refuge.

One day on the road, I saw a family with a child. When we rested for lunch at noon, the child of that family was still having a snowball fight in the camp, and every person in the family was brimming with smiles.

I was very curious, so I went up and asked them: Your homeland has already been destroyed by war, and you yourselves almost became slaves. Now you don't have a penny to your names, so why can you still smile?"

"Guess what that family said?"

Eris blinked at me with eyes that were still a little bright with tears.

"What did they say?"

"The old man in that family said that if their home was gone, they could rebuild it, and if they had no money on them, they could work to earn more. As long as their family was still there, then their home had not fallen apart. If the whole family worked hard together, everything they had lost would definitely come back."

Eris seemed to understand something and nodded. Then she started eating.

I sat beside her and ate too. I did not know if it was just my imagination, but I felt like she was sitting even closer to me than before.

The next day, I made a stone tablet at the site of Eris's old home, and wrote on it that if Philip and the others came back, they should go to Ars to find us.

Then I took Eris and looked around near Roa City to see if there were any other clues.

Unfortunately, it was still just a stretch of wasteland, and nothing useful happened. I had even been wondering if there was a chance we might run into Nanahoshi! But we did not see her.

Just as we were getting ready to head back, a horse came galloping wildly toward us. The person on horseback looked like a knight. I thought he was a knight who had come here to investigate, so I waited where I was for him to approach.

After he got closer, the other party glanced at us, then looked carefully at Eris again.

"Eris, is that you? I'm Paul Greyrat, Rudeus's father, and Philip's cousin. Hello, sir. Do you know where this place is? Is this near Roa in the Fittoa Territory?"

"Hello, Knight Paul. I'm Dolin Prodia Greyrat. Over there is Roa City in the Fittoa Territory."

I pointed at the large expanse of empty land in the distance.

"This place must have suffered a massive magical disaster. The people, animals, plants, and buildings of the entire Fittoa Territory vanished into thin air and were scattered all over the world. At present, there have already been cases in the royal capital, Ars, of people from the Fittoa Territory falling from the sky. You're also from the Fittoa Territory, aren't you?"

"Yes. I was teleported to the southern part of the Asura Kingdom. Have you seen or heard anything about my wife and children? They are: Zenith Greyrat, Lilia Greyrat, Rudeus Greyrat, Norn Greyrat, and Aisha Greyrat."

"I'm sorry. You're the first native of Fittoa I've met who was teleported away and then made it back. But at present, most people should still be safe as long as they weren't teleported to an extremely dangerous place.

My suggestion is that you can wait here. Recently, there will definitely be natives returning one after another. If you still haven't seen them after a long time, you can organize the people who also can't find their families and go elsewhere together to search for them.

Don't worry. After I return to Ars, I'll arrange for government personnel to assist you."

"All right. Thank you."

After leaving Paul, I took Eris and headed back toward Ars.

"Cousin, where do you think my parents are right now?"

"I don't know either, but as long as they aren't dead, then there will absolutely come a day when we find them again."

"What if—if, I mean if—if Father and Mother are both gone, what should I do?"

"Don't worry. If they're both gone, I'll take care of you. You can't give up hope. People have to learn to grow up and be strong. In a person's life, they'll encounter many hurdles. Only by stepping over them can a person grow."

Eris did not speak. We spent another two weeks reaching Ars.

As soon as we returned to Ars, we heard a piece of bad news: Saulros Boreas Greyrat would be held responsible for the disappearance of the Fittoa Territory, and was expected to be executed in one day.