陶醉的妻子

A long and heavy sigh filled with sadness escaped Aurdis' mouth. The Elf princess stared at the Portal where Erend entered and disappeared.

The portal was still wide open. Aurdis looked at it as if the Portal was echoing the temptation for her to come in too.

That way she could be together with Erend.

But no.

Aurdis shook her head regretfully. She couldn't come into that world now. Here, her kingdom was facing a very serious problem.

Aurdis doesn't seem to want to close the Portal because she still hopes that Erend's face will appear again while saying, 'I'm not going back home.'

But again, no. It won't happen. At least for a while until an undetermined time.

So Aurdis chose to get those feelings out of her heart. Aurdis took a deep breath and exhaled.

Then she closed the Portal.

'Now is not the time to be sad!'

Aurdis came out of the room and locked the door. Leaving the presence of everyone who previously occupied this room locked in it.

She walked over to meet Saeldir to talk about what they should have been talking about a long time ago.

~~~

When his feet finally hit the ground in his original world, Erend felt a feeling of warmth and tightness at the same time.

Like the feeling, a child feels when he leaves and finally returns to his parent's arms.

Erend doesn't understand why he can feel that even though in this world there have been many things that made him suffer.

Maybe this is not all because of the humans who inhabit this world. But because of this world itself.

Erend sighed as he looked up at the clear blue sky.

The image of the giant tentacles coming out from behind the dark cloud flashed again. Seems like now, it won't be able to get out of Erend's memory.

He couldn't imagine what if that calamity descended into this world.

"Hah!" Erend took a deep breath. "There's no point in thinking about that now. I just have to enjoy the time I can!"

As soon as Erend looked ahead he was quite surprised because it turned out, he was again in this bunker.

Now, this bunker is no longer as busy as before. It's just like an old, gloomy building standing between a meadow and a forest.

In front of the bunker, someone was standing while looking at Erend.

"What do you do there?!"

That person is Billy. Erend didn't know why he was still here. He walked over to Billy with a smile.

"Why are you still here?" Erend asked.

"Our house is in the same place so I thought we should go together," Billy replied.

"How did you know I'd be back now?"

"You won't be spending too much time there."

They walked together towards the bunker.

"The lieutenant has returned first?" Erend asked.

"Yeah. His house is in the city area, right? There's no point in him waiting for us," Billy said. "Even though he wanted to wait for you too, I told him to come back with Anna first."

Erend nodded his head. Then he asked. "How are things going after we reveal all that?"

Billy smiled meaningfully. "The bastards Coil and Ibis were imprisoned and all their crimes were made public. Our names that were previously posted as fugitives were changed to heroes of the country. You know, things you can expect."

Erend smiled in relief. "That's good. Hero of the country?"

"Yes! You know what's better?" Billy asked with a smiling face.

"What?"

"We'll be promoted! After that, we'll get a house within the city area. Not in a slump anymore," Billy said.

Erend's smile grew wider and wider. "Whoa! I didn't know the Republic would do that."

Billy laughed. "Yeah. I thought they would just give us a thank you."

Get a house in the city area. That means, Erend can take his family away from that horrible slump area.

Imagining the smiles on the faces of his sister and mother made Erend happy. Finally, he could do something useful for his family.

"But how did you know about that? You're here, right?" Erend asked.

"Lt. Boartusk called me and explained everything," Billy replied. Erend nodded.

They arrived at their room. Billy explained that all the soldiers had returned to the city.

Some of them want to get out of the military. But no one knew if they could do it because the decision was in the hands of the top military officers of the Republic of Ascaria.

"But there's one thing that's still bothering me," Erend said.

Billy frowned at him. "What's that?"

They were now in the room and Erend was sitting on his bed while packing some things he had to take home.

"We know that the president was also involved in the key theft," Erend said. "The key is even kept inside the presidential palace."

"Yeah, about that," Billy said. "Lt. Boartusk said we should see the president as soon as we get back."

"I knew it wasn't going to be that smooth." Erend clenched his fists. "Luckily we uploaded our faces first to the internet so everyone in the country could see them."

Billy swallowed. He also already knew what Erend meant.

"Yes," Billy said. "Otherwise, we will surely be executed by order of the president."

Erend looked at Billy. "You know what we have to do when we see him, don't you?"

"Of course. We'll agree on everything he wants."

In the end, they were just citizens in the Republic of Ascaria who knew a big secret about their president.

All the awards and gifts he gave them were just to keep them quiet about it.

Billy and Lt. Boartusk knows all about it. Erend thought that they too must have come to the same conclusion as him.

They won't be able to fight the president so it's better to just do what he wants. It was better for them and their family.

Even so, Erend is still curious as to how the president was involved in all this.

How was the key in his palace? And who exactly was the man who had managed to take the key from the Elves?

There are still many unanswered questions and mysteries even though everyone says that this is all over.

After everything was ready, Billy and Erend left the bunker in an old truck.

Erend turned towards the bunker that had been their home for five years.

A bunker that has been a silent witness to all the death and connection that is created between all the soldiers.

Erend didn't know if he would return to the bunker or not.

Although the bunker holds many memories, not all of them are pleasant.

So Erend thinks it's alright if he doesn't go back there again.

~~~

The journey to the village near the northern mountains is not something easy.

They had to pass through the Silent Swamp which always stank because of the corpses of war victims that settled beneath it.

After that the barren forest area where not a leaf appeared on the branches of trees that grow in this forest.

The trees in this Lifeless Forest are like soulless skeletons. Their stems are dry and gray.

Legend has it that this forest was cursed by a Dark Mage so that no plants could live properly in this place.

In the dark corners of this forest, there are still strange creatures that come from animals exposed to Dark Magic.

The party was trying to move as fast as possible while passing through this forest because they didn't want to be here at night.

After the Lifeless Forest, they had finally arrived at a much better area.

The forest suddenly returned to its normal fertility. The trees of this place seemed to be staring with sympathetic eyes at their brethren in the Lifeless Forest.

"We can find camp here tonight," Jan said.

Jan knew that this forest was safe enough for camping despite being close to the Lifeless Forest.

For some reason, all the beasts in the Lifeless Forest wouldn't be able to get out of that forest area.

Annette, Esther, and Hund didn't take long to agree. They had already spent a lot of energy crossing the Silent Swamp and the Lifeless Forest.

Not only because of the distance they have to travel but also about the fear, and anxiety they have to endure.

"I like that idea," Esther said.

Jan led them through the forest and looked for a better place. He can explore the forest since childhood so the forest is nothing new for him.

Jan was never even afraid even when he was lost in a forest as thick and wide as anything.

Jan could find a good shelter or hide. He can also tell which plants are edible and which are poisonous.

Then he was also good at hunting.

Annette, Esther, and Hund never once doubted Jan's abilities in the forest. They followed him without the slightest hesitation.

It was late afternoon when they finally found a cave that Jan said was safe.

The four of them could finally breathe a sigh of relief in the cave.

"Are you sure this forest is safe?" Hund asked.

"Of course," Jan answered without hesitation.

But they do not know that now something is targeting them from behind the shadows.

~~~