Early Evening - Mid Winter : Atlas, Bahamut

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*Click* Hearing the lock get undone, I stepped back from the door, but instead of seeing a maid as it swung open, I found myself looking down at a white dragon almost 10 meters shorter than me.

-To think I grew this much... We were basically eye-to-eye before I left...- I subconsciously lowered my head and softened my posture upon seeing him. "H-Hey, Father... Have you been well?"

His expression was a mix of confusion, awe, and worry. "V-Vasilias?! Y-you're already back? Nothing serious happened, right?"

I immediately clammed up a bit. "A few things happened, but that's not why I'm here." -I don't think I'll be able to avoid the issue this time, but that's for later...- "I just haven't been able to keep in touch over the last few years, so I decided to come back and visit for a while."

His worry quickly started to fade as he let out a deep breath. "Phew..."

However, his worry wasn't the one I was anxious about. "Honey? Is everything alr-" As Mother rounded the corner, she completely froze in place with an expression remarkably similar to Fathers before bolting to the door and quickly inspecting me. *FWOOSH* "Vasilias?! What are you doing here?! Are you alright?! Are you in trouble?! Do you need help?!"

Her worry hit me in the face like a train, forcing me to quickly pull her in for a hug. "I'm alright, Mother! You don't need to worry so much."

Her worry slowly started to dissipate with my affirmation, but her heart was still racing. "What do you mean, 'not worry'? When children leave the nest, it's for at least 10 years. If they come back sooner, it either means something bad happened, or they struggled to adapt to living on their own.. and I know you aren't the latter..."

Her worry was definitely warranted, especially with the condition of my aura and slightly visible exhaustion. -But I can't let her worry like that...- "I just came back because I missed you all... Is that such a bad thing?"

Her face quickly morphed as if she wanted to cry before shoving it into me and speaking in a hushed tone. "N..no... Thank you for coming back..."

A warm feeling arose in my chest immediately. "Of course... It's good to be back."

There was a short moment of silence, not just among us but also the maids, as we stood in the doorway and enjoyed our reunion.

However, after a moment, I decided to ask something weighing on my mind. "So, where is Krystallo?" It was pretty unusual that she didn't charge into me the moment I came through the door.

Mother slowly pulled away again, clearly still emotional. "Since the incident with Eugene and Basilia, she is cautious whenever someone visits... However..." She slowly backed up with a more purely joyful expression coming to her face. "She will definitely freak out when she sees that it's you."

I smiled just thinking about it. "What makes you say that?"

"She took you leaving the nest harder than anyone. It even made it hard for her to make friends when she first started going to the academy."

Suddenly feeling a bit guilty, I followed Mother into the estate, away from the peeping eyes of the people. -I knew she would take it a bit hard, but I didn't think it would be that bad...-

As we started walking, Mother slowed down to speak with me. "I don't think I ever told you, but when you had one of your first dragon sleeps, Krystallo stuck to you like a magnet. Whenever I told her she needed to sleep on her own, she would refuse and crawl up next to you like Ilios does." Her familiar warm expression quickly started to return as she glanced back at Ilios, who was already napping.

"Haha, is that so?" -I remember her crawling up next to me some when we were young, but to think it started that early on...- My smile slowly grew. -We will be turning 16 soon... Maybe I will finally be able to have some fun teasing her.-

However, all hopes of me getting some fun out of teasing her was tossed out of the window mere moments later.

Coming up on what I assumed was the living room, Mother walked ahead and opened the door. "Sweetie, Vasilias came-"

*FWOOOOSH* A white blur blasted through the door immediately before leaping off the ground and heading straight for my face. *CLACK*

The next thing I knew, I had a 16-meter-tall dragon hanging off my head, glaring at me with a gleam in her eyes and a wagging tail.

I wanted to laugh, but something about the look in her eyes made me hesitant.

That was when she broke the silence. "You have to take me with you next time you leave." She spoke without the slightest trace of sarcasm in her voice.

"Haha, I will be staying here for a while, don't worry; if I need to go by Siratha, however, I can show you around." -I should see if I can get her to form a connection with Leif...-

"Right! You have to tell me all about your trip too! And give me science lessons again! Or else I won't forgive you for leaving." She proudly swung herself around to perch herself on my head with a smug look.

Being a bit over double her height, I was just big enough for her to lay there with her legs hanging off. "Haah, alright. Anything else you would like?"

"Hmmmm..." She paused with a contemplating look for a moment before having a lightbulb go off and hanging her head down to look me in the eyes. "Come to the academy with me tomorrow!"

Her expression was difficult to refuse. -But I can't just yet...- "Okay, but I'm not sure I can do tomorrow."

She immediately pouted. "Hmph."

"Haha, I just need to recover some mana and rest a bit before I can go with you, but I promise I will go with you after that. I do have something that can hopefully compensate for that, though."

Her expression flipped instantly. "A gift?!"

I quickly moved it over to her with my aura.

But she obviously didn't recognize it. "Huh? What.. is this?"

Both Mother and Father looked a bit confused as well.

"That's called a microscope." It took a while to make and get working correctly, but it was as good as it gets before moving to an electron microscope.

"A micro-scope?"

I proudly nodded. "Here, look at this." I quickly took out a slide of two incredibly thin pieces of glass with a tiny bit of water between them and slipped it into the lower power lens. "Change to your humanoid form and look through those two things at the top."

*flash* She did as I said without any hesitation at all. "W-what the?! What are these things?!" Her reaction was beautiful.

"Those are called bacteria. They are essentially tiny little creatures that live anywhere and everywhere, that are so small you can't see them with just your eyes."

While it was true that you could see them with aura, they were typically on a scale that people would overlook, so while their existence was known, it wasn't common knowledge among anyone but old elders and ancients.

However, to someone young like Krystallo, it would be like becoming told a whole different world existed right under their feet. "Woaaah!" She pulled her eyes away for a moment to look at the slide normally. "The water looks so clear, though... If there are really that many little creatures, why are they not visible, even as a blur?"

"Because they are so small that light can pass straight through them."

There was a short moment of silence as she looked back through the lens. "Wooahh..."

My smile quickly widened, seeing her enjoying it so much before giving her a basic rundown of how it worked and how to use and change the slides to look at almost anything she wanted to.

However, by the time I finished explaining it, I had managed to pique Mother's curiosity and got tasked with making another one for her.

Of course, I didn't mind, but one thing quickly led to another after that.

Before I knew it, the question I knew was inevitable finally came.

Father was pretty blunt about it too. "You keep mentioning that you need to replenish your mana, but no matter how I look at it, your aura doesn't exactly seem all that low."

-Haah.. I guess I'll need to tell them soon anyway...- I quickly shook my head. "My reserve has grown immensely over the last few years. I have actually been narrowly avoiding mana exhaustion for a few days now..."

Mother tensed up immediately, clearly putting two and two together. "If your reserve has grown that much.. then what did you do that drained it?" She looked extremely anxious.

"Well.. it's a long story, but I guess I should start by saying... I am basically the ruler of Siratha now."

Krystallo immediately looked up from the microscope and gave me a confused look. "Didn't the Sirathian gods return during the recent prayer?"

I was quick to nod. "What would you say if I told you that your brother is their god?"

Her eyes lit up like a beacon.

But Mother still wore a worried look. "So you were the one to kill the apostles?!"

My nod told a thousand words. "But it's not what you think." I hesitated for a moment to think of how to explain it before deciding to just go for it. "The apostles that I killed were ones who got possessed by a human god named Magni. I couldn't-"

Mother's face turned pale before I could even finish. "Don't tell me..."

I moved over to her in a flash. "Don't worry! I didn't get marked or anything! The human gods still have no idea what or who I am."

She didn't believe me, though. "S..sweetie... T..that isn't possible if the god was there themselves..."

Seeing such doubt and worry, I could no longer beat around the bush. "It is possible because I killed him before he could escape."

Silence filled the room instantly, freezing everyone in place and making their faces pale.

My statement to Krystallo about being a god was suddenly no longer a child's exaggeration.

Krystallo was actually the only one who didn't wear a look of disbelief or fear, even among the maids. She just looked at me with an unfathomably prideful light in her eyes.

"Haah..." -At least I avoided worrying her...-

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