"Father, come here a moment!"
While everyone was chatting merrily in the room, Rudeus mysteriously pulled Paul outside and dragged him all the way to the corner at the end of the hallway.
"What is it, Rudeus?"
Utterly bewildered by being dragged along, Paul asked with a puzzled expression.
"We're planning to take Eris back to the Asura Kingdom first. Please take Mother and the others back to Millis to let Grandmother and everyone know you're safe, then pick up Norn and return to the Asura Kingdom."
"After all, we've all found our families. Only Eris still doesn't even know how her parents are doing..."
Rudeus glanced through the crack in the door at Eris, who was talking with Zenith, and lowered his voice as he spoke to Paul.
"So you're saying we'll have to split up for a while?"
Paul paused before speaking, his tone level and betraying no emotion.
"Yes!"
Rudeus answered with his head lowered, not daring to look Paul in the face.
After all, their family had only just managed to reunite, yet he was proposing to escort someone else away at a time like this, breaking up this hard-won reunion with his own hands.
He had already braced himself for a thorough tongue-lashing from Paul.
Paul looked at Rudeus's bowed head without speaking. He simply stood there, his expression unreadable.
The hallway fell quiet, and time trickled by in their silence.
After quite a while, Paul seemed to suddenly think of something and burst out laughing.
"Haha!"
"I never thought I'd see you this scared, Rudeus!"
Paul rested a hand on Rudeus's shoulder, threw back his head, and laughed heartily.
"Huh?"
Rudeus slowly raised his head. Seeing that Paul wasn't angry in the slightest and was instead rocking with laughter, he couldn't help feeling confused.