E3 Chapter 19

: Neglect

[N POV]

That information burned the whole brain of Rudeus.

The shock he felt was so tremendous that he shut his mouth, while Eris, realizing that even if she’d returned to Roa, she might not be able to meet with her family anymore, dropped lifelessly to the ground.

Ruijerd looked at what happened and worriedly stayed close to them. He pats the heads and backs of the kids.

"... is there more information on this?" Ruijerd said.

"You can ask that monkey-faced person for more information. I know that he’s traveling everywhere to seek the missing person. I guess he would know more than me regarding this case. "

Rudeus then gathers his wits to stand up and leave the place quickly.

He headed to the cage imprisoning Geese again and opened the cell nonchalantly.

"Oh, Senior, you’re already waking up, I see? What’s up...." he stopped his intention to tease Rudeus since he could see that this senior of his had a grave and hurried-up expression.

"Please... Tell me more about the mass teleportation incident... " Rudeus asked pleadingly.

Geese then realizes that the kid knows about it and doesn’t realize the incident all this time.

He can expect it since this minor senior is still a child, no matter how capable.

Then, without further ado, he describes everything he knows about the incident, from the first day until the latest information he received from the adventurer guild.

First, a mass panic happened in the Asura Kingdom when the news passed around the area.

The few lucky ones were transported nearby, but the nearest was still in the range of 100 km from the Fittoa Region. Those closer to the human area can be saved right away and procured.

Thanks to the merchant group called the "Arbalest," the procedure to save the victim can be dealt with swiftly.

The Arbalest Merchant Group was led by someone Rudeus knew well, and by the time he realized that the one who did all the things was Mike, he couldn’t help but yelp in astonishment.

He is Claude’s friend.

Using an artifact created by Claude, he searched for more victims in the surrounding area using his own contracted mercenary group and the Kingdom’s soldiers.

As he said, there were almost ¾ of the Buena Villagers saved within three months of the incident. It was noted that the more a person had mana within their body, the farther they would be sent.

Thus, those with low mana were still in the Central continent.

However, even if they know that

More than a quarter of the whole Fittoa region’s populace had met their demise...

It’s only a rough measure since they don’t know if the corpse was there because of the teleportation incident or something else. But, the fact that there’s a death count can’t be denied.

There’s no information about Eris’ family’s deceased information, but almost all the beastkin maids hired by the Boreas family were found dead.

By now, Geese already know that Rudeus was Paul’s child.

As he already knows that Paul is still alive with his daughter, Geese informs Rudeus, but adds that Zenith, Lilia, and Aisha’s location is unknown.

"My mother and little sister are..." You can see his sadness, but the fact that their bodies were not discovered gave him hope.

"Well, there's an expedition here and there. After several years, the final result would definitely be out... Just be patient. I know Zenith well. She wouldn’t kick the bucket... "

"Thank you, Mr. Geese."

"My gosh, it’s disgusting to hear you calling me mister, senior."

"Okay then, I’ll look for Claude for now."

He said so, and he stood and left the place.

"Hey, can you let me leave the cell first… eh, Senior... Senioooor! "

Geese were left in the cell. Rudeus even bothered himself to lock the door again before he went to seek out Claude.

…

..

.

[Claude POV]

I’m disappointed.

I’m utterly disappointed.

All I’ve thought is that since the past has already changed, I can see more of Rudeus’ matureness while with me.

I already know that he’s an old man inside. He should be in his 40s already.

But why did he always have that one way of thinking? I always told him to think, think, and think more. Although I am also not perfect, he should already be prepared for the sudden event.

I can see him standing in his fight with Garus.

I know that Garus is strong, but even so, he’s not something he can’t defeat.

He’s already an upper-saint-ranked water magician and should already have peak advanced in all attribute spells by now, which I thought all this time.

But, different from me, that is constantly training as if tomorrow is the last day of my life.

He is still thinking of relaxing.

He’s drunk on the novelty of reincarnation.

I won’t deny that I’m blaming him one-sidedly.

But, if... only if he’d realized that wasting time can be fatal towards others...

..

After the battle last night, I didn’t waste my time dealing with the smugglers and slavers. I leave it all to the Beast and the elven folk as I continue to use my monitor to track any possibility of a person from Buena Village being transported here.

It took me 3 hours to scour the surrounding area, and even with the 10 km distance, I only found two dots on the tracker.

I’m praying that what I found is just one of Mike’s subordinates or a dropped tracker...

Sadly, I found a couple being torn apart by the monster in the forest.

Their bodies are still rotting, which means they only died within the last month.

No, it might be around this week...

Knowing this, I am badly shaken...

I don’t think much at that time. Since they’re someone I know, I hurriedly dug the grave for them. Twenty meters down, leave a sign to let me know the whereabouts.

The sign was enchanted with a tracker, so I could know it later when I’d come back.

I hope Somar will be alright now.

Since their parents had already died,

I can see my lack of preparation. I created a protection ring for them but it was broken.

Sigh..

There’s no use in crying over the spilled milk.

After cleaning myself, I go back to the Dedoldia village and see Rudeus in the village chief’s house. It irked me that he’s that obnoxious…

He is just like Paul, but what can I do aside from being mad?

I know I can’t blame him, but can he be more adaptable?

Why did he only think of Eris? Was he stupid enough to believe that he was the only one teleported?

If I didn’t have Mike’s help, more deaths might have been. But, even if I told someone else, I doubt they would believe me.

In the leyline, the other me of the future.

They had already tried to convince each other. Some even get close to Rudeus and tell Rudeus of the impending doom.

But no one believes them. Not even Rudeus...

Even after the orb comes out, they still think of him as crazy.

So, I stopped trying to convince others without further ado and did my best single-handedly.

I should trust each other more...

Sigh..

I need to learn from this mistake. There’s also the fact that some God will disturb my work if more people know, and informing more people will make that particular God notice me and do something in my head.

Well, I can apologize to him later. But I am pissed at him since he stopped training himself...

I mean, seriously,

Even after six months, he is still the same weak ass as the last time I met him.

Sigh..

"Let’s go back and take a look at those brats."

That is what I said. After I finished scouring the great forest for more deceased,

…

..

.

[N POV]

The villagers can see that Claude dug a deep hole in the outer part of their village. They don’t know the purpose of those holes, but no one dares to stop him after seeing the grief in his expression.

It took him half a day to dig that deep hole. By the time Rudeus awakens, he’s already done with the hole and brought out a couple of bodies from the coffin he called the weapon box.

He covered the hole after gently placing their bodies within it.

The guard was curious, but he dared not ask the kid.

He knew that this kid was scarily strong, stronger than even their head warrior, Gyes.

The kid can massacre the smuggler they had trouble with single-handedly and is feared by the elves because of his bloodthirst.

Not long after meeting with Rudeus, he once again went to the great forest and only came back when the night fell.

"Hey, Claude… Ummm"

Rudeus suddenly came and met with him at the village gate.

Claude casually pointed to the grave he had to make in the morning.

"I question you. Do you know whose grave that was? "

Rudeus was perplexed by that single question...

"That’s not been here since before?"

"Ask those guards what I did in the morning before you wake up then."

He said these as he walked away from Rudeus.

As he walked through the village, he could see that everyone in his surroundings was still wary of him. Then, a bald guy from the Rudeus party came.

"Mind talking to me?"

"... Sure."

Claude said words of acceptance. While they walked together within the village, Ruijerd stood there without saying anything.

"The teleportation incident, have you dug the information from that monkey?"

"Mmm, Eris and Rudeus were shocked by the information they received."

"Say, Ruijerd, you know how blessed they are to be under your protection, right?"

"...."

"More people die in the wilderness, not a long distance from their own villages. But they, Eris and Rudeus, were saved by you, even if they are 2 continents away from their own home...."

"We both helped each other."

"I know that Rudeus will survive by himself either way, but I sometimes doubt his head... By the time I meet him, he is accompanied by the elves to hunt those slavers. I can see his hesitation...."

"How do you know?"

"I know him longer than you, and he had a habit of running away from trouble... He’s a coward through and through.. "

"...." Ruijerd stayed silent, as if acknowledging what Claude said.

"He’s strong. Stronger than that Sword Saint? Heck, he doesn’t need to be jailed if he just comes out and makes trouble. He’s strong enough to do that. Have you seen his original magic, Barrier? I wonder why he forgot about that one damn thing... "

"I am teleported to a dungeon, a dungeon filled with a group of C-grade beasts living within their midst, and the closer you are to the exit, the stronger the monsters living there. At the end of the dungeon, there’s an A-class Troll that has a regeneration way stronger than a normal Troll, even in the dark dungeon... "

Ruijerd stares at the child in shock since he already knows the danger the kid was put into...

"That wound..."

"Yeah, they’re healed using passive regeneration magic for a month and some troll blood... heck, I still had some of the troll meat and blood in my weapon box. Want some? "

"Sure, I can take some."

"Anyway, within that period, he flirted with that Boreas girl. My life is on a thread... It can be snapped all the time... But that bastard just forgot to take more notice of the Guild board? Even me, the caveman from the dungeon, known to seek information since the day I came out, but why’d someone that was actually with a noble daughter don’t know about the massive incident that startled the whole world? "

"Ain’t that stupid?"

"I can’t deny what you said, but I can guess that his mind was too focused on something that actually stopped him thinking about any distracting thoughts."

"What’s so distracting about your homeland and family?"

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[Edited 06/29/2022]

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