44 Return to Buena

Trod trod. The horse ridden by Rudeus rode out of Roa's city gates. The boy, now 9 and a half years old, left the city alone.

After having been away from his family for a couple years now, he missed his family and felt regretful that he did not go back to visit even though Buena Village was just a day's journey away.

And so, he had asked for some time off from his employers, the Boreas family, to return to Buena Village and visit his family.

'It has been two and a half years since I left Buena Village… Aisha and Norn should be around three years old now. Time passed too quickly.' Rudeus mused to himself as he rode on the horse the Boreas family lent him.

When he first made known his desire to return home, Eris had demanded to go along with him. Even though Rudeus didn't particularly mind bringing her with him, her parents denied her request. It was simply too dangerous for her to leave the Boreas territory of Roa where it was the safest for her. Even if Ghislaine went along with them, their enemies would be a lot more tempted to strike somewhere outside of Roa.

Eris was furious, indignant, and coarsely put, pissed off. She threw a tantrum, even running to Sauros and crying to be allowed to go to Buena Village with Rudeus.

It seemed that after spending nearly every day with Rudeus next to her for the past two and a half years, Eris could no longer bear to see him leave her side for even a day. It was a troubling attachment, Rudeus noted, even if her parents didn't seem to think the same way.

It took Rudeus making several promises to be back in a week, and to bring back some gifts for her, for Eris to be willing to let him go without a fight.

"Say hi to Zenith for me." Ghislaine had simply asked of him. That was how a mature lady should be like, Rudeus pointed out snidely towards Eris.

And so, Rudeus rode towards Buena Village from Roa, casting Healing spells occasionally on the horse so that it could run at maximum speed without need for rest.

On horseback, the ride back took only a few hours at maximum speed. It was only mid-afternoon when Rudeus arrived back at the place he was born - Buena Village.

.....

The villagers gave him weird looks as he rode through the village. Rudeus realized that it was likely because they found it difficult to recognize him after more than 2 years. He had grown a lot since leaving Buena Village, and his attire was also drastically different from the rough linen shirt and pants he wore previously.

Thus, the villagers must have thought it was weird that a young child they did not recognize was riding on a horse through their village.

Shrugging off the weird looks, Rudeus proceeded to his family home.

Arriving at the wooden fence of his Greyrat household, memories surged back of the time he spent here – swinging his sword with Paul in the garden, learning magic from both Zenith and Roxy, Lilia chiding him for his occasional mischief.

"Doesn't look like it has changed one bit." He breathed out as he alighted from the horse and approached the front door.

His small hand formed a fist and he knocked on the door.

A few moments passed before he heard the pitter-patter of small feet hitting the ground.

The door swung open and a little girl with red hair and green eyes opened the door. Rudeus was slightly taken back at the sight, before recognizing her as Aisha.

He smiled warmly, "Hello, you must be Aisha."

The girl looked at him curiously for a moment, "Hello. Who are you looking for?"

Rudeus held back a small laugh. Who would have thought he would be treated like a stranger only after having left for two and a half years.

"Are your parents home?" He asked.

Before she could answer, he heard a familiar voice from within the house. "Aisha, who's at the door?"

A woman with blonde hair and light blue eyes appeared behind Aisha. A woman Rudeus was intimately familiar with.

He smiled brightly, "Hi mama. I'm home."

Zenith gasped in surprise at the sight of her son at first before delightedly calling out, "RUDY! YOU'RE BACK!"

The Rudeus in front of her looked a lot more mature than the last time she had seen him. He had grown taller, which was as expected, but he looked more like someone in his teens than a 9 year old child. The muscles that were hardly hidden by the fancy attire were indicative of his growth in the last 2 and a half years.

However, no matter how much he had changed, Zenith could still recognize her son with just a glance.

She rushed over and enveloped Rudeus in a familiar hug that, though threatened to cut off his oxygen supply, he missed dearly. He hugged back tightly, with a body bigger and taller than his mother remembered.

"I missed you, mama." He muttered into the nook of her shoulder as her embraced tightened.

They broke the hug and she looked back with tears in her eyes, "I missed you too, Rudy. Welcome back."

"Welcome back, Young Master Rudeus."

Rudeus looked up and saw Lilia, still looking the same as when he had left Buena Village, clad in the familiar maid's outfit.

Lilia still had on her usual stoic, professional expression, but her lips still lifted and betrayed the excitement within her.

"It is good to be back, Lilia." Rudeus greeted back at her.

Lilia approached him and her smile widened. "You have grown so tall, Young Master Rudeus. I almost didn't recognize you."

"Even if he was twice as tall I still would have recognized my baby Rudy." Zenith commented while landing kisses all over his face. Rudeus might have been embarrassed about this a while ago, but now he received her affections welcomingly.

At this point, Aisha had already figured out the identity of the young man in front of her who had received such warm welcomes from her mother and Zenith.

"You are my brother, Rudeus. I didn't recognize you. I apologize." Aisha apologized with a dainty curtsy, a practice that had been inculcated by her mother. Her behaviour was stiff, and outsiders would not have thought them to be brother and sister at first glance even though they shared some facial resemblance.

"Ah, don't need to apologize. The last time I saw you, you were just a little baby. How could you have recognized me?" Rudeus moved to reassure her, finding the girl's behaviour odd. It was not a behaviour that fit a toddler.

'Lilia, what have you been teaching your daughter…?'

"Come in Rudy, come in! Oh, Paul will be so excited to see you!" Zenith ushered Rudeus in to the house he had spent the earliest years of his life living in.

"Where's papa?" Rudeus asked as he sat on a chair in the living area. His hand brushed against the wood of the table with a fond familiarity.

"Papa is patrolling the forest. The monsters have been restless recently, so he has been quite busy the last few weeks." Zenith answered before taking a closer look at her son.

"But you really have grown so much, Rudy. And that scar on your face! What happened!? Did Ghislaine bully you at Roa? Or was it that naughty Boreas young lady who did this?" Zenith questioned while tracing the scar on his cheek with the gentleness and loving care only a mother could have towards their child.

Rudeus felt heartened by the undisguised concern and love that poured out of Zenith. Though he may be a reincarnated person, how could he say this woman was not his mother after receiving so much love and care from her?

"Of course not, mama. It was from a training accident. No big deal." He answered taking her hand in his own. "And naturally, mama still looks as beautiful as ever. You look like you haven't aged a day! Did time not pass in Buena Village since I left?"

Zenith grinned, "Did you learn such flowery words from those nobles? Don't imitate them too much, Asura nobles are all perverts. Don't you dare grow up to be a lecher like your father!"

Rudeus laughed at her comment, "I don't have such audacity, mama."

Aisha walked over with a small cup of tea in her hands and handed it to Rudeus, "Here, brother. Please enjoy." Behind her, Lilia watched with an approving gaze.

He took it awkwardly, "M-mhm, thanks, Aisha. But you don't have to do all that. Come, sit down with me. Mama, where's Norn?"

"She's taking a bath. More importantly, are you back for good?" Zenith asked.

Rudeus shook his head, "No, I just asked for time off to come back. I can only stay for a few days."

"Mama~!" A young, childish voice came from the room.

"Oh, here she comes."

From one of the rooms in the house, a young girl ran out, clothed in only a towel that only covered her lower half.

"Mama, I'm hungry!" Norn called out before freezing at the sight of an unknown person in their house staring amusedly at her half naked form.

"Kyaahh!" She screamed as she ran back in to the room, to Rudeus' amusement.

Zenith sighed, "Norn, what did I tell you about running naked?" She got up and went to find her daughter, "Wait here abit, Rudy. She has a habit of doing that since our house has mostly women."

He laughed it off, "It's okay. Go ahead."

Rudeus continued chatting with Aisha, who he found to be surprisingly intelligent for just a three year old. Lilia occasionally piped in, while maintaining her stern, disciplinarian persona. Aisha looked to be incredibly deferential to her mother. One could only imagine how strict Lilia was as a mother.

After a short while, Norn and Zenith joined their group. The child was thankfully now fully dressed, but her face was beet red as she introduced herself.

"H-hello, I'm Norn. W-welcome home, brother."

Rudeus smiled warmly, "Hello, Norn. I'm sure you don't remember but it's been more than 2 years since I last met you. You were just a tiny baby back then. You've grown."

Norn looked up at her brother shyly. With a close to a 7 year gap between them, Rudeus was as much of a stranger as he was her brother. It was strange, for her entire family to suddenly be welcoming someone she did not recognize in to their home.

She had grown up hearing stories about her brother - genius that both her mama and papa spoke very fondly of. Even if the young child did not have the vocabulary to verbalize it, she was able to deduce that Rudeus was the apple of their eye, their most favoured child.

'Uuu… mama is looking at him like she loves him the most…' Norn bitterly thought in her mind that was still in the earliest stages of development.

"Nice to meet you…" She muttered before looking down at her feet, not wanting to look at the strange boy that suddenly barged into their home and lives.

Rudeus laughed helplessly. He didn't expect to be welcomed back with open arms by his sisters after not being present for most of their lives. But he would have more time to play with them once he left the Boreas family.

Zenith held his hand, "Now, tell me everything you experienced at Roa. You may have sent back letters, but I still want to hear from you."

Rudeus smiled sheepishly and started telling her his experiences with the Boreas family – meeting Eris, the petulant young lady; his daily bodyguard duties; training under Ghislaine, someone he held high esteem for; being treated like part of the family by the other Boreas members; breaking through the realm of Advanced-rank and attaining the title of Sword Saint; learning enchantment and the creation of magic items.

Of course, he took notice to leave out certain matters like an attempted assassination from a North Saint, his declaration of a vendetta against the Notos family, and learning politics from Philip and Sauros to one day claim back the Notos lordship.

Now that he spoke about it at length, he realized that his time at the Boreas household had been remarkably fulfilling. Though he had first left Buena Village to pursue swordsmanship, he ended up receiving a lot more than what he bargained for, even finding something of a second family in Roa.

Zenith, Lilia and their daughters listened to his story patiently and with wide-eyed amazement. Zenith felt that his letters did not do justice to the extent of his experiences at Roa and the Boreas household.

Correspondingly, after Rudeus finished telling his story, Zenith and Lilia also told him all about what had transpired in Buena Village, which wasn't nearly as eventful as Rudeus' own experiences frankly. But there was a certain endearment Rudeus found to the peaceful and unexciting lifestyle of his family. Perhaps, one day, when he have achieved his goal of conquering swordsmanship and the Notos bastards, he could retire in a similar fashion to Paul. A wife by his side and children to call his own.

Day soon turned dark, and evening arrived. The only other member of the Greyrat household returned home, clad in armour and knight's uniform.

"I'm home!"

"Welcome home!"

"Thanks Rudy! ….Wait, RUDY!?" Paul's jaw dropped seeing his only son home.

Rudeus grinned brightly at his father's reaction.

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[SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT]

A/N: Taking this opportunity to thank everyone for their feedback and votes last chapter. Results of the unofficial poll will be finalized in a few days, but so far it's still quite close with option 2 (teleport elsewhere) having slightly more votes. I have started a rough draft outlining how the plot will progress if MC is teleported somewhere else.

I will likely be taking a 1 week break after a few more chapters to write and stock up on chapters.