“You certainly have a wild task at hand as well as taking care of those dangers posed by the Mardana Kingdom,” commented Stuart lightly. “It could get tricky.”

“I wouldn’t be a Phoenix Titan if I couldn’t take care of these things,” he replied to the ghostly form of his childhood friend.

This made Stuart smile and ask, “So, what’s next? Head back to the castle to tell your wives your decision?”

Lakshman looked towards the building where his sisters, teacher, and Lina left before saying, “I’ve got a few things to do, but first, I need to meet someone before I do anything else.”

“Who?”

“You’ll see soon enough,” said his childhood friend with a smile.

He aimed his hand in front of him and exerted his power, causing a hole to appear in front of him. It widened large enough to allow him to entry, and he walked through the portal and arrived out of it to stand in front of an average sized house.

“This place is…?” Stuart asked as he did not know where they were at.

“Be patient,” remarked Lakshman with a laugh, and he opened the front gate and began heading towards the entrance.

He was going to call out the name of the person whom he had come to meet before sensing that they were not inside the house but were doing something on the backside. So, he walked around the house and saw a fence gate blocking the way. Chuckling, he flew through the air and soared over the fence gate before landing back down and walking stealthily to the back.

“Do you know what you look like right now? A burglar,” commented Stuart crossly. “Don’t tell me you came to rob this person or something because I am not finding this amusing at all.”

Lakshman grinned and whispered, “I’m sorry to give you that impression but I came to surprise the person. There she is,” he added when he spotted her.

The woman looked to be past her middle age judging by her appearance from behind. She was currently focused completely on hanging up the clothes from a basket that was at her side. Lakshman stood and watched for a moment before slowly walking towards her with a small smile hovering on his mouth.

He came to a stop some meters away from her and watched, wondering if she would take notice. Seeing her continuing to hang up the clothes on the lines attached by rods from one end to another, he smiled and called to her with a gentle voice.

“Marilia.”

The moment he uttered her name and it reached her, her hands froze, and she let go of the cloth she was about to hang up. It floated down slowly and fell down to cover the basket in an odd way. She stood still and silent as she was shocked on hearing her name being called and sensing she knew the owner of the voice.

“Marilia,” he called her again.

This time, she slowly turned around hesitantly to look towards him with a nervous look on her face. Upon seeing his face and recognising him in an instant, she wore a truly bewildered look on her face. She could not believe that the young man that she thought had disappeared was standing in front of her all of a sudden.

“L-L-Lucky…?” She asked uncertainly to check that she was really not imagining him being there.

Her reaction made him widen his smile and say, “Yes, Marilia. It’s me.” Then he spread his arms out and said, “I’m back.”

Hearing him reply to her question abolished any doubt she might have had regarding him being fake. Her emotions of fear, worry, and happiness quickly surged to the surface and made her tear up. Then she rushed over to where he stood and wrapped her arms around him tightly in a warm embrace.

“Lucky…! You’re back! You’re really back!” She exclaimed happily while shedding large tears from her eyes.

He was initially startled to see her crying, causing him to say with concern, “Marilia. Please don’t cry.”

She continued to cry for a few seconds before she withdrew to look up angrily at him as she said, “Kneel! Now!”

“What?” He asked in surprise.

“Kneel!” She exclaimed fiercely, causing him to flinch and quickly get on his knees.

She stood over him with a tear-stricken face and her hands over her hips as she began scolding him with an angry voice.

“Do you have any idea how worried I was for you?! You fell through that void portal and simply told your wives that you will return without giving any kind of time frame! Do you have any clue how scared everyone was for you when you fell through that hole?! Do you?!”

Lakshman blinked in surprise before hanging his head down in sadness and replying weakly, “I’m sorry.”

“Sorry won’t cut it!” She retorted furiously. “Do you know how scared I was when you vanished through that hole in the sky?! Forget saving the world! You didn’t even think how everyone would feel when you fell through! Especially me!”

She breathed a sigh before going on to say, “I just lost Darian, and when I thought I lost you, too… I… I didn’t know what to do! I… I didn’t know what I was supposed to do at the thought that you might… never return!”

He looked up to see her holding her head in her arms as she wept with all of her bottled-up emotions finally being released.

“Marilia,” he said as he got to his feet and hugged her as he beseeched her, “I’m back, safe and sound, so, please, stop crying. Please.”

Marilia continued to cry for almost a minute before recovering enough to push herself away from him and begin wiping her tears away. Then she began taking stock of him by looking him up and down with reddened eyes from her intense crying.

“What happened to you, Lucky?!” She exclaimed in alarm.

“W-What?” He asked back worriedly.

“You’ve gotten thinner!” She said much to his surprise. She began patting his arms, waist and face while saying, “You’ve lost a lot of weight! You’re skinny compared to when you left from here! What happened?! Were you not fed properly wherever you were at?! How cruel was the living circumstances of the place you stayed at?!”

“It’s not that, Marilia,” he said, trying to explain. “I just got younger by two years, and I don’t even know why or how that happened.”

“Hmm,” she mused, looking closely at him before letting out a sigh. “I don’t understand, but it’s clear you didn’t get enough food. Come along.”

Without waiting for his reply, she grabbed his hand and began leading him towards her home.

“Marilia, I’m fine. I did feed well and properly,” he tried to explain, but she was not listening anymore.

While passing by the line with the basket still there, Lakshman glanced towards it and waved his free hand at it. Invoking his magic silently, he began causing the clothes to fly up one by one and hang themselves on the clothesline before clips flew up and placed themselves around the hung clothes to ensure they would not fall off easily in case of a strong wind.

Once they entered her home, she sat him down at a long table and took a seat next to him while asking, “How long has it been since you had a proper meal?”

“I only had breakfast.”

“Only breakfast?! That was ages ago!” She exclaimed, looking worried. “Just wait a bit while I get something.”

“Ah. You don’t need to, Marilia,” he tried to stop her, but she shook her head firmly and headed into the kitchen.

Once she left, Stuart commented, “She seems overprotective of you.”

“She’s got good reason to,” replied Lakshman as he thought about Darian, her late husband.

While she was away, he began glancing around the room to see that nothing much had changed in it. There was, however, one piece of item that was hung up on the wall that surprised him. To get a closer look, he got off the chair and moved over to it, where he saw that it was a photographic frame.

The photograph consisted of Marilia, Darian, Ondine, Tetra, Emilia, and Lakshman. Lakshman stood in the middle with Ondine, Tetra on one side with Emilia on his other side while Marilia and Darian stood behind them. They were all smiling happily towards the place the photograph was taken.

“This brings back memories,” he muttered fondly while looking at the photo frame.

“Was this taken during your first trip to Floria Kingdom?” Stuart asked, peering at the photo frame in amazement. “You were so small.”

“I was,” admitted Lakshman with a smile, “and so was everyone else. I remember Ondine, and Tetra trying to fight about who gets to stand next to me and in the midst of that, Emilia took my right side. Ondine and Tetra were most annoyed, but since she beat them to it, they took a coin toss that resulted in Tetra standing to my left and Ondine next to her. Throughout it all, Marilia and Darian were laughing while I didn’t know why they were arguing so much. Only now do I realise how much of a competition it must’ve been for them to be next to me and get my attention.”

“Well, you were undoubtedly dense to your surroundings in that regard,” commented Stuart with a smile. “Well, I’ll give you some slack considering you were just a kid who knew only to study, train, and get stronger. No doubt that factored into you not noticing any of this till now.”

This made Lakshman chuckle while thinking, “Well, he’s undoubtedly right about that part but there’s more to it than that though.”

“Whamana sure did his best to keep you isolated and not realise anything until it was the right time to let you go freely,” remarked Asura coldly. “I can understand his concern about you becoming corrupted by the Twisted like your past selves, but I despise the caged bird feeling that he put you in without you knowing it. It’s wrong.”

“It probably is, but he did it out of good intentions, and I can’t say it’s wrong,” thought back Lakshman in support of the Decisive Player. “Just think about it. A powerful being such as myself becoming corrupted and doing bad things. On hindsight, I feel he did the right thing by taking cautious steps in my development.”

Asura snorted and said, “Suit yourself since you feel he did help you out.”

“If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t be here, I wouldn’t have met up with my wives, and… I wouldn’t be me right now, and I can’t imagine being anything but me right now.”

“Well, if he did hear that, I’m sure he would’ve felt really happy with his achievement, and I also think he did well with your growth because you didn’t end up like me,” stated Asura with a hint of satisfaction in his voice.

Just then, Lakshman sensed Marilia returning and turned around to see her bring a bowl of sweets that he would normally enjoy eating. However, the sheer quantity of which she brought for him made him widen his eyes in alarm.

“Marilia!” He exclaimed, in shock as she set the bowl down at where he sat previously. “That’s too much!”

“No, it’s not, considering how much you exert yourself!” She fired back firmly. Then she noticed where he was standing and said, “Is that the photo of us?”

“Yeah,” he replied, turning to face it while she walked over to stand next to him facing it. “It feels like a long time ago.”

“It does,” she agreed with a small sigh. “It feels like only yesterday that we were adventuring from place to place, fighting, learning, eating, and having a good time together. It was the most fun that I and Darian had since settling down at Rodfox Kingdom by opening his training hall.”

As the nostalgic feelings resurfaced, she shed a tear that she wiped away with her hand as he placed a hand on her shoulder in reassurance. Then they headed back to the dining table and had a scuffle about him not wanting to eat the bowl of sweets while she insisted firmly that he must have no matter what to get back his lost weight.

“You look like a skinny boy instead of an adult!” She remarked, waving at his appearance.

He laughed and took a few bites out of the food, enjoying it for a brief moment before focusing on the thing he came to do there.

“Marilia, I’m going to step down as King of Floria Kingdom,” he informed her without any hesitation.

There was a brief moment of silence in which she took a bite of the sweets from his bowl before looking at him and simply saying, “Okay.”

Her simple reaction made him feel surprised instead and asked, “What do you mean ‘okay’ Marilia? Are you not affected by my decision?”

“Not really. No,” she replied with a shake of her head. Then she saw his troubled expression and asked, “Did you come here to ask me whether you are doing the right thing or not?”

It appeared that she had guessed correctly because he nodded and said, “Yes. I came to that conclusion after thinking about a few things that were happening around here, but I was worried that I might’ve made the wrong decision. That’s why I came to get some advice from you.”

“I see,” she said, nodding her head in understanding. Then she questioned him, “Do you think you’re doing the wrong thing?”

“No,” he replied without falter.

“In that case, your answer is right there,” she told him with a smile to his surprise. “When you feel you’re not doing anything wrong, then it’s fine. It’s only when you feel that you’re doing something wrong that you should question yourself. Besides, Lucky, haven’t I told you this once before?”

He nodded and said, “There is no right way in this world.”

She nodded and said, “That’s right, and it means your decision to step down as king is valid. It’s your life, it’s your choice, and it’s your decision. Whatever you do, you must do it. You’re not a kid anymore; you’re a grown up now.”

“Yes, but… I just worry that I might be being selfish by leaving these people to fend for themselves,” he said with concern.

Marilia looked at him for a moment in silence before asking, “Lucky, what do you prioritise?” As he opened his mouth to reply, she raised her hand in a gesture to stop him and said, “Don’t answer me. Just tell me; do you know what your priority is?” When he nodded with unwavering eyes, she smiled and said, “In that case, follow through with it. If you hesitate, everything will get unravelled and that’s not what you want to happen, right?”

“Yes,” he said in agreement.

“Good. Now that’s settled, you can get back to eating undisturbed,” she said brightly.

“No! I can’t eat all of this!” He complained, to which she simply laughed and began to spoon feed him.

At first, he hesitated before accepting to be spoon fed. It was a warm scene of Marilia feeding Lakshman sweetly and gently like that of a mother spoon feeding lovingly to her son who had returned from a long journey.

After several bites, Lakshman firmly expressed that he could not eat anymore and such, she gave up. Then they spoke about the past, the present, and the future plans that Lakshman had envisioned. She did not say anything to any of it, but instead nodded her head and smiled happily at the bright future he envisioned.

A few minutes later, he checked the time-piece hanging on the wall and realised he had to do other things. Since what he came here to do was finished, they rose to their feet and walked out of the house, where Marilia noticed all of her clothes hung up neatly on the clothes lines with clips placed at the right places.

“Lucky, did you do that?” He asked him curiously.

“I just thought I’d lend you a hand,” he replied with a smile before asking, “but why aren’t you using magic?”

To that, she smiled and replied, “Lucky, I am a Saint Ranked Magician so something like this is easy for me. I just… didn’t feel like using magic because it just took the joy out of doing things yourself.”

He understood immediately that she was doing this in order to take her mind off her deceased husband by keeping herself busy. This made him feel sad and clench his hands tightly for letting Darian die. Noticing this, Marilia walked over and patted him on the shoulder.

“Lucky, don’t blame yourself on Darian’s death. In war, it is inevitable, and you know it too.”

“I know but… if I had just ended my training early… I could’ve done more,” he lamented with regret.

She sighed and said, “For all we know, anything could’ve happened. You might’ve been weaker in your battle against the Calamity Titan, or something else entirely could’ve happened that would weaken you before your fight with that man. So, stop blaming yourself and focus on like you always do; towards the future.” Then she added with a cheeky smile, “You are the Phoenix Titan who rises from the ashes in the name of freedom and justice, right?”

He looked at her in surprise before the two of them laughed as they enjoyed the moment. Then he began walking away while she waved at him from behind. After walking for a few meters, he came to a stop and turned around to call her brightly.

“I’ll see you next time, Ma—Mother!”

She froze in her waving upon hearing him call her “mother” and stared at him in utter amazement with her jaw dropping slightly. Then she began to shed tears of joy and called out to him in a loud voice.

“Come back with victory in hand, my son!”

Lakshman’s face broke into a bright grin, and he waved at her goodbye before turning around and opening a Phoenix Portal in front of him. He stepped into it and the portal closed behind, leaving only Marilia standing there. Tears were still flowing down her face, but these were tears of happiness at being called a mother by the person whom she had considered to be the son she never had.

Then she looked up at the sky with a serene smile and said, “I hope you’re proud, honey. Lucky has grown into a fine young man.”

The wind blew smoothly around her, raising her tears and carrying them away with it while she smiled with happiness.