POV: Rudeus Greyrat
For a moment, I swore I saw a ghost.
It was barely a shadow, too fast to process. I was already prepared to cast a spell when I heard that distinctive voice. A little deeper, more defined… but unmistakable.
It was my dear big brother.
There he was, right in front of me, looking every bit the adventurer. It was a far cry from the noble attire he used to wear at the mansion strictly for "etiquette," even while he spent his time training like a maniac.
To think our grand reunion would be like this: him believing I was some weird slaver wearing underwear on his head. In other words, clearly a bad guy.
...
And a pervert.
Still… I thought it would take him longer to realize. But of course, we're talking about my brother. The same person who identified Sylphy instantly, while I almost discovered her in the clumsiest way possible.
"Rudy! Brother!" he shouted, sheathing his sword in one smooth motion, ready to receive me. "What the hell are you doing with underwear on your head?!"
Ah.
I had completely forgotten about that.
I snatched them off immediately and dropped them back into one of the boxes where I had found them.
...Is it like seeing a ghost? Or like an erotic illusion triggered by panties?
"Daiki… is that you?" I asked awkwardly, stepping toward the light.
He just looked at me. His serious expression cracked, giving way to something much more alive, almost desperate. All this time, I had imagined my brother colder, hardened by a solitary road… and the only thing I found was—
"Rudy…" he said, wrapping me in a hug I never thought possible.
My brother… My brother was crying on my shoulder.
That was enough to make me do the same. After so much time in despair, it was finally over, giving way to a unique moment.
When we finally broke the hug, I had to look up slightly.
My brother had grown about five centimeters taller than me.
...Dammit. Now he was taller than me.
And the worst part: he would surely rub it in my face.
"I'm happy to see you… but dammit, you're taller now."
"I told you to eat more vegetables, Rudy."
That was the definitive confirmation of all my suspicions. Yes, it was my brother. The same one I had shared my biggest secrets with. The one who always ended up fixing my mistakes… and the one whom I, in my own way, also helped to fix his, especially when it came to dealing with other people.
Nothing had truly changed. We had just grown up.
"Alright, let's cut the sappy stuff or I'm going to get diabetes," I joked.
"You're right… were we really that cheesy?"
I just nodded, wiping the tears with my sleeve.
"Oof… too much male physical contact. If we keep this up, the gods are going to charge us royalties for plagiarizing a cheap BL manga."
"?"
"You know… those kinds of stories where brothers love each other a little too much..."
"Rudy… we just survived the apocalypse and the first thing you do is... that."
"It's my defense mechanism. Let me be."
I was about to laugh, but I received a chop to the head.
"Shut up, Rudy. Don't make me regret finding you," he said. Though, despite his words, he laughed too.
Then he adjusted the sword at his waist.
"Let's go. I have to introduce you to someone… well, to a couple of people."
We left the warehouse, leaving the work to the others. They still looked at me as if I were a monster: after all, I had attacked them, and now it turned out I was the younger brother of the person in charge of them. Especially that woman with the scant clothing; she watched me with evident disdain.
"The one who hates you for wearing her panties is Vierra," he explained. "Treat her with respect. She doesn't dress like that because she wants to; she does it so people don't look at Shierra."
"That is…"
"Inefficient?" he interrupted me. "I wanted to tell them, but it seems that in this world, anything makes sense.... Besides, I don't blame her."
"Would you do the same for me?" I asked, totally serious.
"You are incorrigible."
"A big brother must protect the younger ones. You said so a long time ago."
"Don't make me cut your hair with my sword."
"I'll take that as a yes," I said with pride.
Then he led me toward an inn that was literally close to the warehouse. I didn't know who he wanted me to meet, but the intrigue was killing me.
I still couldn't believe my brother was right in front of me.
I took a deep breath and entered.
"Father!" Daiki exclaimed. "The special 'cargo' has arrived!"
Father…? What is he doing here…?
"RUDY!" I heard his voice literally right behind my ear; it was as if he had teleported there, making me jump back.
I cleared my throat and tried to look serious. "Hello, Da—"
I couldn't finish. Not because I stuttered, but because my father had wrapped me in a warm, desperate hug, as if letting go meant I would fly away again.
"I knew it!" he shouted, shaking me from side to side. "I knew you were okay! Damn you, you brat. It was thanks to your brother that I could stay focused… I would have gone out to sea to search for you."
He let go just enough to grab me by the shoulders and scan me up and down with pride. "That robe. That staff... You look like a veteran mage."
"Well... I've had a long journey," I said, smiling stupidly.
"Daiki! You were right!" Paul bellowed, pointing at me. "You said we would find him before even leaving Millis."
"I told you I have good intuition for these things, father," Daiki replied. "And I also told you that Rudy is hard to kill."
Paul wrapped his arms around both of us, pulling our heads together. "My two sons... Together again..."
"Daddy? Why are you shouting so much?"
Paul let us go and walked over to Norn.
"That boy, next to your brother Daiki, the one with hair like mine and my eyes, is your other big brother, Rudeus."
"The mage brother? The one who flies?"
"Yes. That's him," Paul said, stroking Norn's hair.
I approached slowly, staring at her. To think I barely had memories of when she was a baby… and now she could form words. Plus, she had called me "the mage brother." That filled me with tenderness.
"Hello, Norn. I'm Rudy. I brought… well, I didn't bring anything, but I can make a water duck."
Then Paul looked at me and asked:
"Hey, son… where exactly are you coming from? Daiki and I have been sending letters everywhere, did none of them arrive?"
"You see… I appeared on the Demon Continent"
"You crossed it alone?"
"No. I was accompanied by a red storm… and Ruijerd, a Superd."
Then I saw my brother tense up slightly, his expression of emotion shifting to that analytical gaze he used to wear.
"Eris… and a Superd, you said?" Daiki responded. It wasn't fear of Ruijerd, but something else, as if a suspicion was beginning to take shape.
Then I saw him shake his head and get serious. I knew exactly what that meant.
"Brother… there is something we need to tell you, and it's about the incident that occurred in Roa."
"When you get like that, it's scary..."
"That incident killed many people," Daiki continued. "And that's not all: it also caused many to be sold as slaves. It wasn't just in the Roa region; it happened across all of Fittoa, after the light."
So... everyone back home had disappeared...
"Does that mean... Sylphie is missing too?"
"Rudy, are you more worried about that girl than your own mother?" Paul said, frowning.
But Daiki stopped him.
"Father, calm down, please."
Then he looked at me, as if waiting for my reaction.
"What!? You haven't—you haven't even found Mother!?"
"That's right. I couldn't even..." he cleared his throat. "We haven't been able to find her anywhere. Not Lilia either..."
"It's as if the earth swallowed her whole," Paul growled, looking at the map helplessly. "I have money, I have my sword, we are in a good inn… but I feel useless not knowing where to search."
Norn settled into my brother's lap, overwhelmed after everything, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
"What about Fittoa? You said there were slaves..."
Daiki sighed and crossed his arms.
"The Fittoa region has ceased to exist politically. Lord Sauros… was executed by the kingdom; he was used as a scapegoat for the incident," he said, with a mixture of anger and sadness. He loved him much more than he would admit. Then he looked at his sword leaning nearby, the same one I had given him as if it were scrap metal, which ended up becoming his travel companion.
Then he continued:
"Naturally, stealing a slave is illegal, but there are legal loopholes that our squad used to free many. Every rescued person wanted to return to their homeland, and today we saved that boy named Somal, the same one who bullied Sylphie years ago. Father and his team had heard the cries of many Fittoa citizens and, as a result, made enemies and faced constant pressure. Even so, our only goal was to rescue the victims of the disaster."
"I… I wasn't aware of all this. I feel guilty for getting distracted with adventures, jokes, and pranks, while you and Father were desperate looking for our family… I… I…"
But then I felt hands on my shoulders.
"I realized it late too... It wasn't until a year later, when I found our parents, that I realized the atrocity of what that incident meant. So you aren't alone in this."
Even so… I was still alive, and that meant I could make things right. I had to carefully plan the search for our family and the lost citizens of Fittoa. Decide whether to continue north or explore somewhere else.
I just needed to think calmly, plan carefully, and get to work.
"Alright, Rudy. Go rest now, you must be very tired. I'll stay here watching over Father," Daiki said as he held Norn and carried her to bed.
Paul walked over.
"Don't feel guilty. You're just a child, Rudy. Say hello to Eris and the Superd; tell them I'm proud of them for protecting you."
"Yes, Father… I will."
***
It was early in the afternoon by the time Ruijerd returned to the room. He took out a small envelope and started showing it to me, looking a little happier than usual. He also noticed how seriously I was looking at him.
"Rudeus, did something happen?"
"Yes, a lot of things happened."
I lay back on the bed, taking a moment to process what had happened.
"I was just with my brother… I was just with him."
Ruijerd stood up abruptly, dropping the envelope on a table.
"Are you serious? Why didn't he come with you?"
I lay on my side, propping myself up on my elbow and crossing one foot over the other, while looking at Ruijerd.
"Let's just say he stayed because he didn't have money to pay his share of the room..."
"In other words, he couldn't come due to other obligations."
"Exactly."
I sighed.
"Eris is going to kill me..."
Ruijerd nodded without saying anything else, as was his custom.
"Tell me the details about your brother."
I described everything from start to finish, as honestly as I could (leaving out the BL parts).
That was the end of our conversation. After some time, he left the room quietly.
Eris returned that night.
"Hi, Eris."
"Hi, Rudeus! I'm back! You'll never guess what.... Why do you have that stupid look on your face?"
True, I'd had this face since I saw my brother.
"I-I… I r-ran into my brother…" I said, instinctively hiding behind a table.
She closed her eyes for a second and then stared at me.
"Where is he?! Why didn't he come with you?!"
"H-he stayed because he had to take care of our sister!" I threw a book at her in a desperate attempt to distract her.
Bad idea.
She caught it in mid-air… and tore it apart without effort.
"Hey! I paid for that!"
The storm passed as quickly as it had arrived. Eris let herself fall onto the bed and stared at the ceiling.
"Is that idiot here… and he didn't come to see me?"
"Technically, you were the one who went on a mission instead of going to look for him..."
"Shut up!" she interrupted me. "I can't go see him if I wasn't even capable of defeating some simple goblins!"
There it was. Classic Eris.
She wasn't mad at me. She was mad at Daiki… for not coming to see her.
Oh, big brother. Sorry for that burden.