novelAlta 168 – When you Wish Upon a Star – II
168 – When you Wish Upon a Star – II
168 – When you Wish Upon a Star – II
The Greyrat Household manor in Ranoa Kingdom.
However, unlike the one I had just left and the one I remembered, this one was a bit old and quiet.
After the chaos in the courtyard, the red-eyed Sylphy and smaller Roxy led us inside to the dining room so that we could have a more comfortable setting for the discussion.
Although, considering everything that had happened, I found it hard to believe there would be anywhere in the world that could be a comfortable setting for this discussion.
After all, not only were there some people meeting parallel timeline versions of themselves who were clearly different, but there were four women meeting their in-laws for the first time.
Both on their own were recipes for drama. Combining them...
Well. I'd just have to play it by ear.
And the first step to playing it by ear was assessing the situation.
And the situation right now...
The red-eyed Sylphy, smaller Roxy, and the two young women who looked a lot like Roxy sat on one side of the table next to Mom and Mama Lily.
Stella was there too, captured in Mom's arms and experiencing first-hand the 'hug monster' that Norn used to be so scared of.
Fortunately for her, Stella was bigger so she could squirm around for proper breathing room.
On the other side of the table, there was me, Dad, and my four lovely ladies.
Specifically, there was me in the middle, Eri and Rika on my right, and Sylphy and Roxy on my left sitting across from the other Sylphy and Roxy.
Dad was shoved on the far end to my right, sitting directly in front of Mom and Mama Lily.
Now, I would be lying if I said that I didn't expect this would happen at some point.
Considering my baby sister's stellar track record of finding all our family members, I figured something crazy might pop up and rehearsed a few different situations.
But there was that old saying about plans not surviving contact with the enemy. And while I knew that Being W wasn't behind this, someone had it out for me and decided to test my adaptabilty skills.
So, improvising.
The room was quiet. Tense, too.
Since it happened so quickly and abruptly, the other Sylphy and Roxy didn't have time to prepare any refreshments.
And since I didn't know where or when we were, I didn't want to show my cards too soon in case Being W was watching us.
But at this rate, we'd be here all day. And since I didn't know if time marched on in tandem or if I had infinite time to get back to when we were, I decided to get the ball rolling.
I smiled at Mom and Mama Lily and said, "I'm glad to see that you two are safe."
Mom smiled and said, "Of course we're safe. We had our genius son prepare us equipment to protect against the entire world after all."
Mama Lily nodded and said, "As Zenith said, it was inevitable that we would be safe even in that storm of chaos. But Rudy..." She frowned and then glanced over at Dad. After that, she looked at the lovely ladies sitting beside me. "It seems that you've had an... 'interesting' time of things."
I chuckled. "Interesting is putting it lightly."
Even on a casual reflection of everything that had happened since we last saw each other...
Becoming a demon lord. Finding out the multiverse theory was definitely a thing. Raising Stella from a newborn to her cute toddler self right now. Accidentally making two daughters after messing with summoning magic. Accidentally summoning a son from a parallel timeline with the same magic. Accidentally summoning Rika.
Finding Sylphy who had been wandering for countless years in distorted time searching for me.
Meeting up with Eri and Norn after making a utopian kingdom in the Magic Continent.
Then there was the mishap meeting Dad again...
Oh yeah. Then there were all the shenanigans around me and the Milis religion...
"...But there will be plenty of time to catch up on that later. For now..." I looked at the red-eyed Sylphy and the smaller Roxy, as well as the two other girls who looked similar to Roxy. "Should we do introductions? I'm Rudeus Notus Greyrat."
The red-eyed Sylphy frowned and said, "'Notus' Greyrat? Not just Rudeus Greyrat?"
"Well." I glanced at Dad and said, "You're the head now, right Dad?"
Mom paused and narrowed her eyes at Dad.
Dad flinched and started laughing. "Ahaha... Y-Yeah." He looked back at Mom and said, "You know how I was planning to take over from Pilemon, right Honey?"
"...Yes, Dear."
"W-W-Well..." Dad cleared his throat and said, "I... Kind of became a Sword God while roaming around with Norn and our Daughter-in-law, so they ended up just throwing the title at me and running away. Because of that, we can use Notus again..."
"I see."
That's what Mom said, but the look on her face said that she clearly wasn't buying it. Or maybe she was just annoyed thinking about all the other shenanigans Dad had been up to since then.
Either way, I was just glad that he took some of the fire away from me.
So, continuing on with my plan to distract more from the issue with introductions...
I gestured towards Mom and Mama Lily and said, "It seems like you've been acquainted with my mom, Zenith, and Mama Lily... I mean, Lilia, already. And there's my baby sister, Stella... Say hi, Stella."
Stella puffed her cheeks and said, "I already introduced myself! And stop treating me like a kid, Onii-chan!"
I laughed and said, "Yeah, she's a smart cookie, that one... Anyway." I pointed to Dad and said, "This is my Dad, Paul Notus Greyrat. He looks unreliable-"
"Hey!" Dad frowned and said, "I only look unreliable!"
"...And he is unreliable too. Well, about half the time. The other half the time he's alright."
Dad opened his mouth to protest, but then he paused to think about the words and proudly raised his head instead.
Asura Kingdom's
It was a book with a story that I mostly knew.
He was born in K407 at Buena Village in the Fittoa Country of the Asura Kingdom to Paul Greyrat and Zenith Greyrat.
He was a genius who could use Intermediate Level magic when he was 3 and was tutored by Roxy Migurdia after his parents discovered that talent.
Moving to the Boreas household to become Eris' private tutor. Returning home only to encounter the Teleport Incident.
A journey across the Magic Continent, becoming famous as an adventurer to search for his family.
Moving to Ranoa Kingdom and marrying Sylphy, who had been serving as Princess Ariel's guard.
Losing his father in exchange for rescuing his mother who had been trapped in the infamous Teleport Labyrinth in the Begaritt Continent after facing a Manatite Hydra.
The story up until then was something that I knew very well.
Rudeus... That is, the Older Rudeus. Although he had rushed through most of it, the info in the book mostly lined up with what that guy told me about his life up until Dad's death. After that though...
Fighting Orsted, joining his side as a subordinate. Marrying Eri- No, 'Eris Boreas Greyrat.'
Establishing a mercenary group, fighting a defensive battle of the Shirone Kingdom, propping Cliff up as an official in the Milis Church, then becoming the Seventh Rank of the Seven Great World Powers...
And finally, dying in K481 after passing away from old age.
I closed my eyes and sighed. "You were more desperate than I was, huh, 'Rudeus Greyrat?'"
I didn't intend to come here, but since we were in this timeline, I thought I'd do a bit of scouting to see if there was anything helpful before we headed back.
After all, if Mom and Mama Lily ended up here, there should be some reason to it. Some connection that led us to this point.
And after reading the book, I understood.
It was a quiet cemetery. Round gravestones lined up end to end.
And in front of me, there was a well-maintained tombstone. Although it was old and the stone was chipped and worn by age, the names could still be read.
Paul Greyrat.
A familiar name.
And beneath it, two more names I recognized.
Zenith Greyrat and Lilia Greyrat.
Dad, Mom, and Mama Lily.
In this world, they had been torn apart. But at least in death, they could be together here at rest.
...But there was one person buried here as well whose name wasn't written on the tombstone.
I closed the biography that I bought and chucked it in my inventory before turning my attention to the grave.
Decades had passed since the people here were buried. As a result, there shouldn't be any traces left of mana. Even the residual amount left in the corpses should have long faded.
...But there was something here after all this time. Mana that didn't scatter even though time ran its course.
"It seems like I wasn't the only one who inherited your will, Rudeus."
A familiar distorted and glitchy mana signature. One that didn't belong and seemed to constantly be on the verge of flickering out.
It was just a trace now, but it was a trace that stood out in a place that had nothing but ambient mana.
Seeing it, I sighed and bowed my head. "You were an edgelord and a jerk, but I guess you helped me out a few times so I'll thank you. Kinda wish you'd have helped me out as much as the Rudy here, but I won't complain too much. After all, you two were the same 'person' at one point."
"So you're here, huh, Kid?" Dad's voice echoed from behind me. Shortly after, he walked over and came to a stop at my side, looking at the tombstone. Seeing it, he frowned and said, "It's still weird to think that I'm buried down there with Zenny and Lili."
I raised my head and said, "That's wrong."
"Oh yeah?" Dad laughed and said, "What? Are you gonna say we're not your parents now that you've grown up, Kid? Finally getting into your rebellious teenage phase?"
"As if. Puberty was already a pain to go through even after I compressed it down to a year. I'm NOT going through that again."
Dad blinked and said, "You- Never mind." He sighed and waved his hand. "I'll get a headache thinking about it, so I'll just believe you. But." He looked at the grave and said, "What do you mean by saying I'm wrong? Doesn't sound like the way you usually disagree or mess with me just to get back for the times when you were a kid."
I glanced at the grave and then said, "Isn't it obvious?" I looked back at Dad and said, "That guy lost everything and couldn't even save his son without dying. Not only that, but his first wife lost her mind while his second suffered having to raise her daughter by herself in a hostile environment. You might be an unreliable idiot, Dad, but I think you're better than that, right?"
"...You know, Kid. You're supposed to be respectful to the deceased."
I laughed. "I think I'm an exception to that rule."
After all, I'd died once before already.
...Huh. Maybe I should use that line on Being W when I smack him in the face.
Dad shook his head and said, "Anyway... You done hanging around here? Stella's been begging me to do the 'Virgil' cut and bring us home." He frowned and said, "I don't know what she means, but I'm guessing she's starting to get impatient. Not to mention that your moms and your fiancees are having long and in-depth conversations with this world's version of your wives. That's probably not something you want to let happen for longer than it needs to, you know?"
I laughed and said, "Fine, fine. Go tell Stella I'll be back in an hour."
Dad blinked. "An hour? Why not now?"
I stared off into the distance, activating my Clairvoyance.
A familiar but unfamiliar world. Familiar but unfamiliar people.
Things that seemed the same, but were different in subtle and important ways.
Like that floating mana signature in the sky.
"...There's someone I need to talk to before we leave."