The Next Couple Months

***** Rudeus' POV *****

"What!? Who the hell is Hitogami?", Timothy yelled in frustration.

"I... I think I've heard her say that name before...", Suzanne said as she stopped swinging her fists and looked at me. "Once... when she was sleeping. She was having another nightmare so I crawled into bed to comfort her. As she quivered, she kept muttering that name. Hitogami..."

"Hitogami is an evil being who calls himself a god. He loves nothing more than playing with people's lives and tricking them into destroying what they hold most dear. Only after taking everything from you will he reveal his true nature. He will mock you and laugh at your despair as he reveals that he tricked you into doing it to yourself."

"What does that have to do with Sara", Suzanne questioned.

"The fact that she tried to kill me is proof enough that he was manipulating her; that you heard her speak his name in her sleep confirms it. Hitogami appears to people in their dreams."

"That... What am I supposed to do with that? Even if I know who to blame... there's nothing I can do. How am I supposed to take out my anger on such an abstract entity like that."

"There's nothing for you to do", I told her as I placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's my job. I swear upon my life, no matter what I have to do, I WILL kill Hitogami."

As I said this everyone's eyes went wide and Suzanne, who was face to face with me, stumbled back in fear. The killing intent I unleashed in that moment made it clear to them that I meant what I said.

After everyone calmed down to some extent, I brought them back upstairs and we walked to the living room where everyone else was sitting around listening to Randolph tell a tale of his youth and how he became known as the 'Death God'.

I offered to let everyone stay the night at my place due to everything that happened today. Everyone accepted with the exception of the members of Counter Arrow and Randolph. Randolph wanted to get home to his restaurant in East Port as soon as possible and the members of Counter Arrow needed time to themselves.

I walked back downstairs with him and he picked up Aleksander and threw him over his shoulder as I altered the destination of my magic circle to send us to the remote island just north of East Port.

Once we arrived, I crafted a simple sailboat with earth magic as well as two pairs of oars so they could row. Unfortunately, the island was a good six hour boat ride to East Port and with everything going on right now I don't have time to ride with him.

Before he set off, I gave Randolph one of my lithograph stones so that he could stay in contact with me.

"Are you sure you want to give me something so valuable?"

"This? Think nothing of it. I can make several of them in a day. It would be nice to have a way to contact each other, don't you think?"

"Yes. I will accept it with gratitude."

"Oh, before I forget, take this as well."

I handed Randolph a small bag containing two Asura Gold Coins worth of currency.

"What's this for? I can't accept this."

"Take it. Consider it payment for saving my life back in the clearing."

"No, I can't. I didn't do that for payment. I saved you because we are friends."

"This is the same thing. I'm giving this to you because we are friends. Before you refuse, please don't consider this to be charity or anything of the like. I feel like I owe you, and this will make me feel better. Trust me, I know this seems like a lot of money, but to me this is nothing. I can make this in a day easily. Use the money to fix up your family's restaurant."

"Hmm. Very well then, I shall accept. Thank you for your kindness."

"Don't mention it. Take care, Randoplh. Make sure you knock some sense into that uncle of yours."

"Haha, yes. I'll make sure of it."

We waved goodbye as I walked back into the small cave that housed the teleportation circle and I sent myself back home.

Phillip and Hilda woke up around the same time that Hope and Laws got back home. Hope and Laws were surprised to see all of our guests but were glad to see Phillip and Hilda return safely.

Phillip mentioned how he promised the members of Counter Arrow a payment of one gold coin each to escort Princess Ariel to Sharia so I decided to lend him the money so he could pay them. They deserved the money after all that happened, after all.

We had two empty guest rooms in our house. Ariel stayed in one while Phillip and Hilda stayed in the other. Derrick and Luke spent the night on the couch downstairs.

The next morning, Ariel set off with Luke and Derrick for the Academy. I offered to come with them to help them with enrollment, but Ariel refused.

"This much I can take care of on my own", she said.

After enrolling to begin taking classes next year, Ariel was offered a room at the dorms while Luke and Derrick were given special permission to stay in the girls' dorm alongside her as her guards.

Phillip ended up getting a job at the Academy as a professor. He taught business, history, and noble etiquette classes. Thanks to his position at the Academy, he was offered a room to stay at with his wife on Academy grounds. They lived in a special area reserved for teachers, separate from the student dorms.

A couple months later, I found out that Counter Arrow had disbanded. Timothy also got a job as a professor at the Academy while Patris got a job working as a town guard. Suzanne and Timothy ended up getting married and bought a small house in Sharia. Suzanne retired as an adventurer after getting pregnant and deciding to be a stay at home mother.

Ariel and I worked out the details of our arrangement. After her graduation from the Academy, I promised to escort her back to Asura and give her public support for the throne using my position as 'Magic God'. Additionally, I would protect her from potential assassins until she officially obtained the throne.

I informed her of my war against Hitogami. She was surprised to hear that I was at war with a self proclaimed deity, but promised me her support nonetheless. Once she became ruler of Asura, she promised to publicly declare Hitogami an enemy of the people and spread word of his misdeeds and evil nature. Hopefully this will make it harder for him to find useful apostles.

As far as I was concerned it would be quicker and easier to simply kill off her rivals for the throne, but Ariel made me promise to keep that for a last resort. How annoying.

The next couple months after fighting Aleksander, I spent time practicing my healing magic. At this point, healing magic feels almost as natural to me as elemental magic. I read off the king-tier healing incantation I had written down from the Pope's bishop that had healed my arm back in Milishion. After practicing casting the spell to heal some injured people at the chapel, I memorized how casting the spell felt and was able to recreate the effect without an incantation. (I suppose king-tier magic was overkill for cuts and bruises, but it was for the sake of learning).

At this point, next year's classes were set to begin in only a couple weeks. Rumors were flying around the school that two more special students would begin classes this year. There was Zanoba Shirone, a prince from the Shirone Kingdom, and there was Rudeus Greyrat, an incredibly powerful magician who is rumored to have even defeated Silent Sylphy!

I, however, wasn't concerned with the rumors going around the school. In fact, I wasn't concerned with my enrollment, next year's classes, or any of that. Lately, there has been only one thing on my mind.

One extremely important event coming up in the next couple of days that had been weighing on my mind for quite a while now.

I don't remember the exact date, but I do remember that it was a couple days after Eris' fifteenth birthday. The day I'll never forget. The day Dragon God Orsted had nearly killed me.

To be honest, I'm not really looking forward to meeting him again, but if I'm going to find out some way to reach Hitogami within my lifetime, working with Orsted is surely my best bet.

'He's the lesser of two evils...', I thought. 'Ha! It's hard to think of Orsted as the *lesser* of anything!'

Regardless of how I feel, I know I have to approach him. This is the one and only time that I know for sure where he is. He's a notoriously hard to find man, after all.

I'm out of time. Tomorrow's the day. The day I have to set out to meet the Dragon God.