Chapter 73: Marina & Ilios
Domitoris Imperial calendar: Year 27, Third month of Spring.
"Mom!"
"Ilios!"
"I advanced to C-!"
"My goodness!"
Ginger haired, ice-blue eyed young man ran up to Marina with a grin. His somewhat long hair bounced up and down with each of his movements like a cheerful flower made by the fairy.
Seeing how adorable her son was in her eyes, the woman with deep green eyes of a forest laughed out loud. Her barely noticeable wrinkles on her face deepened quite a bit, displaying time's fair judgement.
"C- rank when you're just 14 years old, I'm proud of you."
"Hehe…I got an offer from a noble too."
"Again?"
"Yeah. But this time, it's an offer to join the elite team of their guard troupe. If you hear the monthly salary, mom might faint right here." When Ilios playfully winked, the green eyed woman—Marina pinched his arm with narrow eyes.
"No way. The mercenary guild you are in is good enough. Don't mingle with nobles, they don't care about your well-being."
"But this one is different, trust me."
"How so?"
"He's a former commoner."
"Then it's more dangerous." Marina shook her head. Sitting down on the plain wooden chair. "Just how do you think they got their status? Stepping on commoners, of course. Don't be too greedy and sit down, I've been waiting for you to come back from your mission."
It had been nearly fifteen years since she experienced the Void Plane and Moon. After those dream-like months passed by like a strom, Marina settled on the border between Domitoris Empire and the Seeker's Forest.
She gave birth to Ilios and settled down in a peaceful village at the edge of the outer circle of the Seeker's Forest in the northwest.
She also ranked up, now standing proudly on the realm of B rank. After all, she had to put food on the table to raise her only son.
Although not every day felt joyful, her life was relatively easy and peaceful compared to days before her marriage and when she was trapped in the Void.
From time to time, she recalled her extraordinary experience with the mythical creatures she had. She wondered if they remember her anymore.
Marina glanced at the ring on her finger as she frigged with it.
The memories of the dragon with melted golden eyes flashed before her eyes, clear and vivid.
The multicolored crystal gleamed faintly as if responding to her heart.
Marina's lips rose upward. She let go of the ring and grabbed the spoon with a relaxed expression.
"...Mom." Ilios cautiously called out to her.
"Hmmm?" Scooping a spoonful of soup, Marina looked up.
"What if…" Ilios trailed off, his voice soft at the edge.
"What if?"
"What if I want to serve a lord?"
Silence fell, wrapping the tiny room with a tingling coldness.
There was no drama like the spoon on her hand slipping out with a loud clang or strength leaving her body. Marina didn't even flinch.
She calmly placed her spoon away and ripped a piece of bread. Bringing it to her mouth with that same calm, she glanced at her son's anxious face as she chewed it with a serene expression.
Frankly, she knew.
She already knew Ilios desired power and strength. Every time she saw those signs, she recalled the dreamy voice of the golden dragon.
「"Ilios will be someone you could be proud of, Miss Marina."
"R-really?"
"Yes. A very healthy, strong and powerful boy, someone who'd shake up the continent."」
Just as the dragon had predicted, Ilios was definitely strong and powerful. He was a genius from a young age. His righteous personality harmoniously blended with his desire for more power, never wavering.
He never hesitated to help others, nor did he hesitate to throw himself into pursuing strength.
Those were signs of what humans called a "Hero".
So when he showed interest in nobles with privileges she couldn't ever dream of giving him, what Marina first felt was fear.
Marina was a woman who refused to mingle with nobles for the sake of so-called face. She was a woman who decided to leave her husband behind for that reason.
The truth was, she always felt so small in front of those aristocrats. The way they looked at her with eyes full of disdain was enough to stir an inferiority complex in her.
That led her to continuously deny her beloved son's ambitions and dreams.
However, over time, she realized how selfish and foolish she was.
Whether she had a foolish inferiority complex or not, how could she block her precious son's bright future with her ugly feelings?
Motherhood had taught her a lot she didn't know when she was just a married woman. It had broken down her ugly inside and made her regret many things. When she came to that point, she slowly began to change.
She no longer avoided the talk of nobles, only prying deep enough as a mother to judge the situation.
Though, she never hesitated to bring her objection when the noble Ilios paying attention was corrupted.
Nevertheless, Ilios had never brought up the topic ever again after the first time Marina strongly rejected the nobles. This was the first after that time.
"You've already made up your mind." Her deep green eyes shimmered in the midday sunlight.
"Uh-I—" Ilios panicked.
"My dear, I'm not scolding you. Don't be nervous."
Seeing Ilios so flustered, Marina put her calm expression aside. A faint smile played on her lips as she patted his hand.
"Mom…"
"This means you are confident that even if things get hard, your resolve won't change. And it also means you trust this lord of yours as much as you do with the guild master. No?"
"Mom…" Ilios' blue eyes sparkled, shedding his anxiety. A grin naturally appeared across his handsome face. Seeing this, Marina chuckled.
"He must be truly reliable. Your lord, I mean. And he must be a good-natured person who could earn the loyalty of a righteous man like yours."
"Of course! He was strong too! He treated me really well, like I was his son."
"Oh my, he did?"
"You would be surprised if you saw him." A mischievous grin appeared on his face as he whispered like telling a secret no one must hear.
"I should—No—I must see him. Even if it was from far away."
"Don't worry, he'll come to pick me up soon."
"I see." Marina nodded, thinking this lord must come back looking for Ilios later to take him with him.
Perhaps he must have some business near the border. Monsters are frequent here since the Seeker's Forest is near. And Orcs have been especially bothersome lately.
'He must be an Imperial noble.'
The thought left her with a bitter taste. Not because of her son's choice, but rather because it reminded her of a regretful choice she made a long time ago.
"Ilios…" shaking off the unnecessary thoughts, Marina locked eyes with her beloved son.
Forest green met ice blue mid-air.
"Here." Marina lifted her hand.
The sunlight poured on to her like a warm veil. The tiny dragon-shaped ring she never took off gleamed under the sun, scattering tiny rainbows all over due to the multicolored crystal on it.
The moment Marina's strong will to transfer the ring reached the ring, it reacted.
The dragon limbs tightly clutching to her finger moved, followed by the dragon wings.
Click-clack-cling
Instead of the flapping sound of the wings, the gold wings gave a metallic sound as it ascended up to the air.
The crystal in its mouth flashed a small yet bright light. Then, it all melted before the two of them.
The tiny dragon, the crystal… both melted like liquid, still floating in the air.
And slowly, it took a shape.
A shape Marina was all too familiar with.
The rectangle-shaped golden card materialized in front of the two Forest green and Ice blue gazes.
"Ah…" Ilios stared at the floating golden card, engraved with a six-winged dragon holding a multicolored star.
His jaw dropped, eyes quivering as if an earthquake struck in there. He repeatedly opened and closed his mouth like a goldfish, yet the speechlessness he felt never went away.
"M-mom…this…what is this?"
"You know your name is not ordinary, right?" When Marina asked a question before answering his own, Ilios tilted his head.
"Yeah, you told me it's from a language no human knows." Although confused, he dutifully answered to his beloved mother.
"That's right. The person who gave your name also gave me this. Said it was a gift for you."
Marina calmly gestured at the golden card.
Ilios took a closer look at it, trying to calm his pounding heart.
The eye-catching dragon was still there.
Dragons were a famous symbol used by noble families. But none had been this detailed, this unique.
By dragon, some just used monsters like wyverns, drakes, hydras. Or some copied the golden dragon from the book cover of a famous fairy tale. Like the imperial family of the Domitoris Empire does.
Upon closer inspections, he saw a long tail, six long horns, six wings and delicately crafted scales. They seemed to be drawn one by one carefully.
Apart from the multicolored star the dragon was holding with one strong limb, he realized there were strange scripts written around the frame in a language he didn't know.
Trying to understand, let alone read those made his head spin in circles. He felt dizzy. It was as if the world itself was preventing him from reading it without permission.
Ilios blinked his eyes, tearing his gaze off with great efforts.
A strange thought crept into his heart.
"Mom…don't tell me—"
"If you find yourself in trouble or need help, go find a Dark Elf, Fairy, Dwarf, Titan or Someone who carries golden blood. If you show this to them, they'll grant you any wish within their capabilities."
Marina cut him off, replying as if quoting a line from a text book.
That only made his suspicions grow further.
"...Golden blood." The moment that word left his lips, his eyes unknowingly landed on the golden dragon once again.
Ilios was above average in intelligence. It wasn't arrogance, it was a simple fact. For him, pinning small data and evidence together wasn't that hard.
Marina smiled brightly.
"She was my guardian and our benefactor. Yet she gave us so many gifts. Cherish it well, Ilios. She said she doesn't mind even if you pass it down to your descendants. Someday this will be useful to someone of our blood, if not for you."
"...A gift."
"A memorable gift."
"If it's a gift, I should cherish it well." A smile bloomed on Ilios' lips.
The moment he accepted it and extended his hand to grab the card, it reacted before him. The golden card turned into liquid gold and settled on his right ring finger, turning back into a tiny golden dragon.
It happened all too fast, even his C- senses couldn't react properly.
"Woah!"
The ring was fancy. Almost too fancy for a mere commoner. Ilios couldn't help but express his adoration with twinkling eyes as he studied the ring.
"Do you like it?"
"I like it!"
"Kyriaki would be pleased."
"Kyriaki?"
"The one who gave this gift to you."
Ilios stared at the ring for a while before lifting his head. He parted his lips cautiously, speaking with an eager expression;
"Mom, can't I meet her?"
Marina blinked her forest green eyes several times.
"You can't. And neither can I. If you are so eager, why not watch the moon with me tonight?"
"Why the moon out of nowhere?"
Knock-Knock-Knock.
Just then, a knock resonated through the humble cottage, bringing the two of them out from their cozy world.
"Oh!" Ilios jumped up from his seat. "He's here!"
"Who's here?" Marina tilted her head, looking at her excited son.
"You'll know once you see him!" He hurried to the front door, which was visible from the dining table in the kitchen.
Today was the day she banned all the villagers from approaching her cottage as she was expecting her son's arrival. She wanted to spend more time with Ilios, who's getting more and more busy as his core rank went up.
So to her knowledge, there shouldn't be anyone knocking on her door at this hour.
If it wasn't an emergency as threatening as an orc invasion, the only possibility is that Ilios inviting someone home.
Marina sat there, staring at the slowly opening door.
"Mom, don't be surprised!" Ilios' voice was so excited like a puppy.
Seeing him so excited, a natural smile formed on Marina's lips as her gaze fixed on the person that came to her view, only to freeze like she was hit by an ice attribute spell.
Beyond the opened door, a man stood stiff. His gaze lingered on Ilios before scanning the cottage. And finally it landed on Marina.
She held her breath, blood draining from her face as her forest green eyes quivered.
The same ginger hair, faded by the fair treatment of Time, the same ice-blue eyes shimmering under the sun.
"This is Duke Sunblade!" Ilios turned to look at Marina.
He immediately noticed the changes in his mother. Confused, he looked back and forth between the Duke and his mother.
"...mom?"
There was no reply.
Marina stared blankly at the man beyond the door with a shaken heart.
"Mom…do you know each other?"
Oh, how could she not.
Marina bit her lips, holding back her urge to cry. Tears pooled in her beautiful eyes the same hue as a deep forest.
Anyone could see the resemblance in the two men in front of her. So how could the man himself not notice?
In the end, the man, looking a few years older than Marina, opened his tightly shut mouth.
"I finally found you…Marina, my dear wife."
∆ ∆ ∆
Your Author is here!
Volume 01 ends here. This last chapter is 14 years after the void plane incident, but the next volume will start with only four years after it. And about the next extras…they would be slightly important in the future, but I wonder if anyone would remember them later lol.
Anyway,
Volume 02 will be updated after a short break. Until then,
Enjoy!
Omniverse_Observer