"That's the overall situation."
When Kairen ca to his senses, he heard a conversation not too far away from where he was.
"...It's a little bit hard to believe."
"Believe it or not, that's what has happened to your world."
The two voices belonged to Reynold and Daniel. Kairen could understand what they were talking about despite him waking up just a few seconds ago. It seed like he'd fallen asleep at the sa place he sat after talking to Reynold. Kairen raised his body, which was stiff from lying down on the cold and hard ground, and rubbed his eyes.
"Ah!"
Daniel sighed after noticing that Kairen was awake and took a step towards him.
"Can we converse now?"
Kairen yawned while looking at the two people in the room with puffy, red eyes.
'Dude let wake up first before attempting to start a conversation!'
Of course, Kairen didn't like to have conversations with people even when he was fully awake. If possible, he'd like soone else to explain things instead of him.
"Ah, sure!"
But in the end, he just nodded his head at Daniel. Without waiting, the middle-aged man asked his question.
"Are you the sa Kairen Steyton who used to live here? Aaron Steyton's little brother?"
"Umm... Yes?"
Kairen tilted his head a little bit. Although it was a strange question to ask, Kairen could understand why Daniel started the conversation with that.
"Yes. I'm the sa person."
Even if he'd just heard about the truth behind the gates and the possible destruction of his world from Reynold, even if he'd lived in a land where monsters erged from nowhere and assaulted humans, and even if he has seen his fair share of mysterious and unnatural events in his life, it was still hard to believe that soone who was assud dead or missing 17 years ago was now back at this city, safe and young, and with extraordinary power.
And that sa person claid that he could help this world save itself!
"How is that possible?"
Kairen glanced at Reynold for a second before looking back at Daniel again.
"I'm not very sure myself. You know, like you are dragged here and there without yourself knowing what is going on and what you are doing with your life... Yeah, that kind of a thing."
"...."
Daniel narrowed his eyes as he inspected Kairen and Reynold. He was visibly confused, and so was Kairen.
'Man, I still don't know what's happening to and what exactly is going on!'
A sudden surge of frustration raised up in his chest.
'The one who has all of the answers is that good-for-nothing strawberry-haired bastard and that goddamned dude doesn't say anything about the critical things at all! Does he have delirium or sothing? Dude! Everyone around needs to go to therapy, including !'
Kairen swallowed down his angry thoughts and opened his mouth to talk.
"Anyway, I am definitely the sa Kairen Stayton who used to live in this world. Sothing happened the mont the apocalypse began and I was pulled out of this world."
Kairen was talking about switching worlds so freely because he knew that this man had a basic understanding of the situation after conversing with Reynold.
"So stuff happened and I ended up back here. Yeah, I look the sa age as when I left this place as ti flows differently in each world."
Of course, he still couldn't tell that he'd gotten younger while moving between the worlds. It was sothing strange even for Kairen, much more for anyone else. Probably only soone like Aaron who had experienced it himself could easily accept such a thing.
"You said you were friends with Ron. If that's the case, then you must've heard a little bit about from him."
Knowing his brother, Kairen was sure that he must've brought up Kairen in his conversations with his friends once or twice even in a ruined world.
"...."
Daniel silently inspected him for a few seconds before heaving a sigh.
"Not just a little bit."
"Pardon?"
Daniel shook his head and said sothing else instead of answering Kairen.
"You said you wanted to visit his family. I don't know if you are already aware or not, but Aaron had no surviving relatives, and his wife and daughter are also dead."
'Oi! Is that how you should tell soone about their family's death?'
Even if Kairen was away from this place for 17 years, and even if he had never seen his brother's wife and daughter, those people were still his family!
'Do people beco like this when they experience too many deaths around them?'
Kairen couldn't be sure but he made that guess. He, in fact, felt sowhat disappointed and heavy-hearted for Aaron's family. He had never seen or heard of them but they were still the people his brother must've loved and cared for. He felt sad about their deaths, and even more sorrowful for his brother who had to go through a lot of things. Kairen knew that Aaron suffered quite a lot, more than he could imagine, and all alone at that. His heart once again filled with guilt and heaviness.
"And the commander, Aaron, isn't here either."
Daniel wasn't done talking.
"You must've noticed that while you were here. I don't know if he is dead or alive, but he's not here anymore."
'Of course, he is alive! I... I hope...'
Kairen didn't want to think of any other possibility. Shaking off the annoying thoughts, he turned his attention back to Daniel's words.
"Where did he go? How co you don't know if he is dead or alive?"
"..."
The middle-aged blonde man glanced at Reynold for a brief second before answering.
"He... He jumped inside a gate."
"...He did what?"
Daniel glanced out the window towards the sky, but then he frowned upon seeing the clear sky as if he wasn't used to the sight.
"The commander wanted to see what those gates exactly were and where they led to, so he decided to go inside them to investigate it himself. He knew it was probably the most dangerous thing to do and we tried to stop him, but he didn't listen. There is a gate in the nearby shelter in the next city which is floating on the surface of water. Aaron jumped inside it."
"...."
The bewildered Kairen's mouth dropped open.
"What the fuck? Isn't that suicide? Had he lost his mind?"
Daniel nodded his head with a little bit of delay.
"He was pretty much crazy in his late years."
"Huh?"
"After his wife and daughter's death, I an. He was in pretty bad shape, ntally, I an."
"Ah!"
Kairen nodded his head with a blank expression then asked sothing else.
"How did... How did his family die?"
Daniel answered without any hesitation.
"When the gates first appeared, the new cities we had built over the years were once again attacked by monsters and were destroyed. Aaron had to fight in the front lines while the weaker agents saved the citizens. Juliette was also a decent agent, but she couldn't fight properly as she was expecting a baby. She still helped save the citizens but wasn't able to fight properly in that state and lost her life. Their daughter too, as she didn't leave her mother's side."
"...."
Kairen was once again left blank from the explanations that seed more thorough and complete compared to the others.
'Even though I've never seen them...'
Even though he'd never seen or heard of them, he still felt as if he'd lost very precious people. The person Daniel talked about felt to be a strong and reliable woman, soone who must've supported his brother a lot. Kairen would feel a great sense of loss and regret for her death even if she wasn't Aaron's wife.
"That was a great shock, for him and for us."
Kairen didn't react to Daniel's words. He didn't expect his brother to be in a good state after losing his family but, for him to attempt to jump inside a gate... That was pretty much a suicide attempt and just knowing about it was enough to give Kairen so much anxiety to have a heart attack.
'Man, I'm so worried about him.'
Kairen wanted to instantly go back ho in case his brother attempted anything stupid.
'Aaron did say sothing about a gate before, didn't he?'
Kairen could clearly rember that on the day when the holy priest attacked SMF's base, the very day that he first t Reynold, Aaron had told him that he had t this red-haired man when he jumped inside a gate. The red-haired man then tossed the white jewelry-like stone to him and disappeared.
Kairen turned towards Reynold with a narrowed gaze.
He hadn't understood it before when Aaron talked about it but now he could get it. He now understood that this man, this bastard, this unstable-looking foolish person, has left his brother alone inside a gate and ran away! He hadn't saved him from falling into such a dangerous thing!
"You!"
Kairen moved up from his position a little bit as if ready to jump at Reynold.
"Why didn't you save him?"
"I did save him."
Reynold was calm despite Kairen's anger being pointed at him.
"I gave him the jewelry and allowed him to traverse between worlds without being hard."
"...Uh?"
Kairen, ready to jump and grab the man's collar, froze on his spot.
"I-Is that so?"
"He wouldn't have managed to survive falling into that gate without my help."
"Ah..."
Kairen sat back down. Daniel, who was silently watching the two with a focused gaze as if trying to understand their conversation, chid in at that mont.
"Do you an that the commander is still alive?"
"Probably."
"Why didn't you take him out of the gate instead of helping him pass through it?"
It was Kairen who asked this ti.
"Wouldn't that be pretty much disappointing?"
"Disappointing?"
"For you, I an."
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