In the farmhouse, people were standing outside a room, where Kiernan and Aoi were having their private conversation.

"He was alive all this time? Wow!"

Baru exclaimed.

"By the sound of it, he has been a prisoner of Dead World people all this time."

Bella said while softly caressing the hair of her son.

"…I think I should send a message to the government. They should know that he is alive, and that… Dead World is not that 'dead' after all."

Karma said.

Bella nodded, kissed him on the cheek, and as he left, she turned to look at the shy Ellie, who was sitting silently in the chair.

She was hanging her head low, nervously touching her hair, as she didn't know how she should talk to her father.

"Are you happy, Ellie? Your dad is back."

Bella asked with a smile on her face.

"…Mm…"

Ellie nodded shyly.

…

In the room.

"…"

Aoi was hugging Kiernan with tears flowing down her face, and they weren't speaking a word.

Just silence.

She was afraid to let go of him in case he disappeared suddenly, and she was left alone once again.

Kiernan put his hand on her head, gently stroking her hair, and felt her body turn like jelly in his embrace.

"It must've been hard… I am sorry… but I am here now."

He said.

Hearing that, Aoi burst into more tears, nodded with a weak "uhn," and hugged him tightly.

"…Y-your."

Aoi touched his chest, could feel the 'void' inside him, and she turned her teary eyes to look at his face.

"M-martial soul…"

Kiernan shook his head, "It's gone," he said, and Aoi's lips curled down, and she hugged him again.

She knew what that meant.

He was with them for now, but while she and Ellie outlived him, he would keep getting older and would eventually pass away.

It meant they couldn't live "forever" together, and instead, it would be a pretty short time instead.

"There must be something that we can do to fix that!"

Aoi said.

"…I don't know. Humanity's understanding of martial soul is so little that I am not expecting them to find a way to fix it."

Kiernan said, but he didn't want to speak about those things now and instead took Aoi to the bed and lay beside her.

"I am just happy to be back with you now. I don't care that I lost my martial soul to achieve that. I just want to focus on our time together."

Kiernan said.

Aoi put her head on his chest, wrapped her legs around his chest, and treated him like a body pillow.

They lay there together for about an hour, in a perfect silence, just listening to each other's breathing and heartbeat.

"…Right, Ellie. You met her already, right? I feel so selfish taking you away from her… She must also want to meet her daddy!"

Aoi said in a hurry and looked into the face of her husband.

"Mm."

Kiernan kissed her quickly, got up, and looked at Aoi sitting on the bed, and she smiled back at him with a loving look.

"Let's continue this tonight, okay?"

She said.

"Nn."

Kiernan nodded and left the room, and outside the room, there were people waiting, and they all turned to look at them.

There were people he didn't even recognize—they were workers of the farmhouse—and they looked at him curiously.

'That's the legendary Kiernan Hunter?' they were thinking about.

Kiernan turned to the shy girl sitting at the corner, walked over to her, and saw her body turning visibly nervous.

With a smile, he crouched before the little girl and said.

"Ellie, it is very nice to meet you. My name is Kiernan."

"…Nn."

Ellie shyly nodded, and her cheeks were burning with blush as she reached out a small hand to shake his.

Bella was looking at the scene between father and daughter and felt like crying again, as it was very sweet.

She knew just how hard it had been for Aoi since Ellie had become a very secluded child and had been missing her father.

"Want to go for a walk with me?"

Kiernan asked.

Ellie nodded, and then Kiernan grabbed her hand and walked downstairs.

While they walked away, Aoi was looking from the doorway and covered her mouth while tears fell down her face.

Ellie, while trying to hide it, was obviously very happy.

…

"Ah…"

Ellie stood at the bow of the flying ship, and Kiernan stood behind her, just making sure that she wouldn't fall over the board.

Since he knew that she was curious about the flying ship, he took her to the flying ship to show it to her.

"I think we can use this flying ship to get the two of you back to Montrael. It's really fast, so we'll be there in no time at all."

Kiernan said.

Ellie nodded with a smile on her face.

She was really short, so it was hard for her to look over the railing, so Kiernan suddenly lifted her up and lowered her onto his shoulders.

"Ah!"

Ellie cried out in surprise and quickly grabbed her father by the hair as she thought she was going to fall backward.

"Whoah…"

From Kiernan's shoulders, she could see the island in all its entirety and the surrounding sea stretching in every direction.

The sun was also setting, so the orange glow stretched across the horizon, painting the sky in shades of pink and purple.

…

"…Yeah, and, and…"

Ellie spoke excitedly to Kiernan, talking about everything she had done in the past few years, and Kiernan just listened with a smile on his face.

They arrived back at the farmhouse, and Aoi was there to greet them back, and she saw Ellie sitting on Kiernan's shoulders.

Ellie never even liked being touched by strangers before, so seeing her like this meant that she immediately accepted Kiernan.

It made Aoi extremely happy.

"Ellie, it's dinner time!"

Aoi shouted.

"Okay!"

Ellie excitedly said, and Kiernan lowered her back to the ground, but before running inside, she turned around and gave Kiernan a hug.

"Ah…"

Kiernan felt warm inside, returned the hug, and watched as she ran back inside.

In that moment, Aoi hugged him, whispered, "Welcome back," and gave him a kiss on the lips.

"Thanks…"

Kiernan smiled, grabbed her hand, and walked to the farmhouse, but as soon as they entered, Karma was waiting there on a couch, and after seeing Kiernan, he stood up.

"Son, there is something I must talk to you about."

He said.

"Mm, alright."

Kiernan nodded.

Aoi headed to the dining room, and Kiernan went with his father upstairs to have their private conversation.

"Yes, father?"

Kiernan asked after they were behind closed doors.

"I contacted the government about you, and they'd like to have an immediate meeting with you, about Dead World, of course."

Karma said.

"I expected as much, and I am fine with it. When?"

Kiernan asked.

"Three days, and I managed to get the meeting to happen over in Montrael."

Karma said.

"Ok," said Kiernan.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.