CHAPTER 500: A PROMISE

Rio didn’t know what Alfred was planning, but even if he knew he probably wouldn’t care.

With the dozens of ’surprises’ he has been through in the past couple of days, his state of mind is at a stage where if you don’t kill him and his family in an instant _ he’d still just raise an eyebrow to everything, before calmly thinking of countermeasures.

Right now however, he was staring at his best friend, who was in turn staring at someone, who bore an awful lot of resemblance to his now dead girlfriend.

"You can go and talk to her, you know." Rio said, taking the glass of wine from Bernhardt’s hands.

"She’ll understand." He suggested, insisting him to meet Dahlia’s mother.

However Bernhardt just sighed and shook his head. "Understand what?"

"That her daughter died trying to protect me? Or the fact that I’ve been since sitting, standing, and sleeping in the same building as her killer. Yet not daring to lay a hand on him."

"I’ve told you a million times, what happened with Dahlia, was not your fault." Rio replied, placing hand on his shoulder. "She loved you, loved us _ and that’s why she made the sacrifice."

"You blaming yourself would not bring her back. She wouldn’t want this."

"She would’ve wanted revenge though." Bernhardt said, and couldn’t help but laugh a little, "You remember how feisty she was."

"If it was me who died, I’m sure she would’ve razed the planet by now. And here I am...." Bernhardt said, glancing below, at the stage where Alfred danced with a noble heiress. Looking at his happy face, he couldn’t help but clench his fists. Breaking the bottle he had just picked up.

Bernhardt looked at Rio, patting him on the shoulder, "You wouldn’t understand." he said, before hooking his other arm across a girl’s waist, hugging her while moving away.

Rio looked at his leaving back, and just closed his eyes. His memories reminding him of the time when Nirvaan (Nashi’s father) kidnapped Shweta, and forced him to make a choice between his past and his present. Or when Nashi snuffed the hopes for all their happy futures with a single shot from his gun.

Life is never the same after a loss. But burrowing your head in guilt and regrets, was never a solution.

Rio shook his head to gather himself, and took a deep breath before opening his eyes.

(I understand everything, brother. And that’s why I want you to not go down the same path.) He thought, but didn’t chase after Bernhardt. Knowing his talks were as empty as therapy.

Theories, sounding nice and easy to hear, but way too damned difficult to apply in life.

....

Rio ignored the people coming to greet him, and simply went to talk to Daisy. Queen of fairies and Dahlia’s mother.

After the formal pleasantries, Daisy led him to the side, away from all the chatter and crowd. Making their meeting personnel and away from prying eyes.

"The last time you visited our forest, I wasn’t there to welcome you." Daisy said, mentioning about the time when Rio came to Fairy forest to visit Dahlia’s empty grave.

At that time, she was outside due to some business affairs.

"It doesn’t matter. I just wanted to pay my respects." Rio replied.

"Heh, right." Daisy said.

"I saw that you’re still close to that bastard?" Clearly she noticed him talking naturally to Bernhardt earlier.

"..."

"How do you stomach that? She considered you her friend, you know?" she asked genuinely.

"Bernhardt loved her." Rio replied, "So very much. But I think you already know that."

"Do I?" Daisy replied,

"Just look at him, from which angle does he seem sad. Morbid. Guilty?" she asked , her piercing eyes staring at Bernhardt half resting his head into some bartender’s bosom.

"Everyone has their own ways to deal with pain." Rio replied, still defending his best friend. "You did it by banning the Zenith and shutting off all trades, and he’s doing it in his own way..."

"You are right. But his ways are just disgusting, and disrespectful." Daisy nodded, before adding something Rio couldn’t refute.

At least not openly, in words.

While others saw Bernhardt being drunk, he saw his efforts to numb the pain. While others saw him dancing, hugging, and hovering around girls, ruining his reputation, and wasting his talents, _ he saw a son sacrificing his self to safeguard his mother.

Though obviously not many shared his vision. Or his understanding of everything.

To Daisy, Bernhardt’s actions seemed no different than a scumbag’s.

"Do you know your friend hasn’t even come to visit her grave yet?"

"..."

"The boyfriend she died protecting, couldn’t even protect her corpse, so that she can be reborn again as our spirit by the rituals."

Daisy said, hinting about the ritual where fallen fairies can be buried in the sacred ground and over time, be reborn as spirits of nature, which can further bind to someone else as contracted souls. Starting their second life.

Though the spirits retain most of their memories and personality traits, they lose the abilities to share life freely like before.

They need to choose a host, someone to form a contract with. Like pets or a property...

Still an acceptable price for maximum dying people.

But for this ’reincarnation’ to happen, the corpse needs to be preserved, buried and bathed in the essence of the fairy forest sacred grounds.

But alas...

"What use is for such love, and the lover, which brings nothing noteworthy?" Daisy asked, sneering at Bernhardt’s inefficiency to do anything right.

Wondering what her daughter even saw in this POS.

"I am sorry for your loss, Queen Daisy. I really am."

"But Dahlia knew the risks and yet still made the choice."

"And we both know that if she got a second chance, she’d still do the same thing."

"She was stubborn like that, wasn’t she?"

"She was."

"You know she always praised you. Saying how smart you were, or how easily you could understand people and their hearts. So tell me, why couldn’t you understand what those people planned?"

"..."

"Forget it. She also said, that You love to keep secrets."

"..."

"But there is something I want to ask you? Something I’ve been curious about for a while now?"

"Once the dungeon entrance was found, and you came out alive, My ancestors used a tracking ritual, trying to locate Dahlia’s remains. Hoping to bring her back home."

"Do you know what we saw?"

"...."

"Where is my daughter’s body, Rio?" Daisy asked suddenly, without even waiting for his response.

"Queen, I don’t_."

"You were the last and only person in that dungeon. And we saw you, holding her corpse before the crash. So tell me, where is she?"

"..."

"Did you ...?" Daisy suddenly asked something, halting mid sentence. Her eyes, doubtful and dangerous, suggesting towards Rio’s cannibalism for survival. Something which has been guessed and gossiped by many people over the time period. Since he came back.

But hearing Daisy’s words and seeing her absolutely absurd expression, Rio couldn’t help but immediately refused this instantly.

"No, never." he shouted. Making Daisy breathe a sigh of relief.

Because if Rio didn’t reply negatively, she wouldn’t know what she’d do in anger.

Seeing that Daisy was calm and waiting for an answer, Rio tried to explain.

"I _ ah _ um_ lost her."

"I don’t know when, how, or where - but after the dungeon crash, I was in a coma. For a long time. And when I came to, ... my storage ring was missing."

"I tried looking _ searching. Slaughtering any and all monsters in miles of distance. Hoping if any one of them had eaten it."

"But I found nothing."

"Maybe I lost it during the battle with Warzy minions, or maybe during the void ripple _ but ..."

"I’ve blamed myself for this ever since then. But I promise, I will bring her back home, to you, to us."

"No matter how much time and effort it takes."

"...." Daisy looks at his eyes and doesn’t plan to press him further. Not because she trusted his story, but because she saw the sincerity in his eyes.

....

Rio looked at Daisy leaving without saying anything, and couldn’t help but take a deep breath. His subconscious staring at the magnificent coffin stored in his system space.

(I’m sorry I lied to your mother, Dahlia.)

(But I don’t want you to come back with half your memories and live a life without freedom and happiness.)

(You deserve the world, Berny too, and I’m gonna give it to you. Once I’m done with Leon.)

(I will keep my promise, and bring you back. Just hold on in the other side.)