The Star Of Annihilation

The Star of Annihilation

Chapter 64 – Family (1)

Written by : Eleven

* * *

Roy had never seen his own father.

In both of his two lives, his father had supposedly died before he was born.

Mathilde had extremely bitter memories about her husband. Because of this, whenever Roy asked about his father in the past, Mathilde only ever gave him surface level answers.

She knew what she was doing was probably not right, but Mathilde didn’t understand how her husband’s decision was any better off than her own.

Hic- Sniff-


Mathilde rubbed her eyes as teardrops gracefully flowed down her cheeks.

Thomas, her husband, had not died.

Or maybe he did, she didn’t know.

Regardless, as Mathilde looked at the blaring red alarm that brilliantly lit up the entirety of the capital from the single academy, she wept.

“Hic… Why…Why does this have to happen?!”

She screamed at the night sky, banging her fists against the railing of the balcony of her new home. The maids were holding her back from falling, pity in their eyes.

She remembered Thomas’ words about Roy when he had to leave.

* * *

Back then, Mathilde was still a young lady full of love and life.

Her firstborn, Edith was already 3 months old and Thomas, her doting husband, was sitting on the porch while Mathilde rocked Edith in the rocking chair while breast-feeding her.

“Hmmmm~”

Thomas was hymning a lullabye as the vibrance of the sun rays poured out and lit up his warm skin, soaking in the light.

Mathilde was calmly humming along to Thomas’ lullabye while sitting outside the cottage of Kerto Village.

It was only a matter of time before the couple would decide to have their second child.

However, that day changed everything for the family.

Clop- Clop- Clop-

“Thomas! Mathilde!’

“Verdante!”

Thomas stood up from his seat while Mathilde covered her breasts back up from the breastfeeding with a smile on their faces.

A man riding the carriage driven by a single horse, plopped out and waved his hands while running up to Thomas for a big hug.

Vedante, a bruque and rough-looking man, was part of the adventurer party that Thomas was in.

“Ah! It’s so good to see you guys.”

“Come, come in Verdante, are the kids with you as well?”

“Not today aha! I got something amazing to talk to you about!”

Verdante chuckled with a big grin across his face, as Thomas turned to Mathilde and nodded with a silent agreement to not disturb Edith’s nap.

Following Thomas inside the house, Verdante took a seat at the table in the small living room as he brought out a bag.

“What I’m about to show you, you cannot tell anybody about, not even your wife. I haven’t told a soul about this, but I think you are the only person I can trust with this information.”

Verdante’s expression turned cold as he looked Thomas in the eye.

Thomas raised his hand up, signaling Verdante to wait.

“Stop. You know I don’t have much left in me for adventuring. Becoming a B-Rank adventurer was already enough for me, but now I even have a kid. I’m not even sure if this is a request I can take right now.”

“Hmmmm.”

Verdante scratched his chin at Thomas’ reply but didn’t jump to try and convince Thomas further.

Back in their active adventuring days, Verdante would normally try to coax Thomas to go along with his plans in the promise of glory beyond belief.

Thomas realized that Verdante was indeed thinking deeply about something, and realized that this was not a normal request by any means.

“I understand. This adventure that I want to go on, is probably going to be my last as well. But it’s also not something I’m certain about. You know well that not every adventure is safe and our lives can be forfeit at every moment, but especially with this one, it’s going to be extremely dangerous.”

Thomas swallowed his saliva as he heard Verdante’s pitch that was not really much of a pitch.

Verdante was for once agreeing with the dangers of the mission he was on.

“Well, I’ll give you a week to think about it. Whether or not you decide to join me, I’ll be leaving by the end of the week.”

Verdante said this, stuffing the bag into his pockets, not revealing the contents within even until the end of the conversation.

Standing up to his feet, Verdante nodded slightly in respect and took his leave.

Thomas stayed seated, pondering on Verdante’s words and actions.

It was an extremely short conversation, but Verdante would be staying in Kerto Village for the next week, so Thomas could give him a more detailed response later on his decision if he changed his mind.

‘What about Edith?’

Thomas struggled to become a B-rank adventurer.

He was a 4-star magic swordsman, and was only able to reach B-rank due to his countless years of experience in the field of adventuring. He wouldn’t be able to get A-rank, let alone S-rank, as those ranks were for people who pushed past the wall of transcending their minds’ and bodies’ limits.

That being said, he couldn’t support his family the way he was if he retired.

He had made quite a lot of money; enough to even retire. But what about his child’s future? What if he even chose to have another kid? It would be difficult to possibly even support them if he retired now.

It was a rule of thumb, or rather an unspoken understanding that the more dangerous a mission, the more rewards there could be.

Slide-
Thomas got up from his seat and went to his room to go find Mathilde.

He would have to go find his wife and talk to her more about it anyways.

* * *

“No!”

“Why not, honey? You know this is something that could benefit us. You know I’m not even saying that I will go, I’m just suggesting that whatever Verdante is suggesting, might be able to help us out financially with our future!”

Thomas looked at the closed door that was down the hallway. It was the door that led to Edith’s room.

Mathilde looked incredibly and vehemently against the very idea that Thomas would go back to adventuring.

“You know how much I wanted to finish that and start our new life…. You knew…”

Mathilde spoke in a despondent voice and looked at the floor.

Seeing this, Thomas couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“What if I just listened a bit more to Verdante’s expedition details, and what if you were there with me to help make the decision?”

Thomas still didn’t know what the mission that Verdante wanted to go on, even was. It was only told that it would be dangerous.

Mathilde looked at Thomas as she stood in her nightgown, ready to go to bed.

This was not a conversation she even wanted to have in the first place, let alone right before bed when she was tired.

“Fine.”

Mathilde agreed grumpily, hitting Thomas on the back of the head while doing so.

“Heh~ I knew you’d come around.”

Thomas smiled and chuckled as if he knew Mathilde would eventually listen.

“You stupid bastard…. Don’t get your hopes up!”

Mathilde snorted as she turned around and sat on the bed; facing the opposite side of Thomas, refusing to look at him.

Thomas just knew this was her cuteness and just one of the many reasons he decided to marry such a woman.

“Aw, don’t be like that.”

“Shutup…KYA!”

“Shhhhh… you’ll wake up Edith.”

Thomas chuckled as he tickled Mathilde who started to yelp as she was very ticklish.

“Please AHA-pl-AHAHA!”

She begged him to stop but laughter erupted from her mouth and all it was, was a beautiful smile.

“Shhhhh dear, what do you say we make another kid?”

“You stupid idiot.”

This time, Mathilde smiled wholly out of her own will despite her words coming out harshly.

She did not reject Thomas’ advances as this was indeed, the day that changed their families’ lives in more ways than they could have possibly imagined.

* * *

The very next day…

“Two of you came to talk about it?”

Verdante was staying in a small hut nearby, a hut he constructed long ago for whenever he traveled to Kerto Village.

He couldn’t help but be confused since he knew of Mathilde’s stance on her husband being an adventurer.

“Well… it’s rather complicated.”

Thomas scratched his hair as he didn’t know how to explain it to Verdante without being embarrassed.

“Fine, I won’t ask. Hahahah!”

“Thank you.”

“Of course, so does that mean I take it as you are slightly inclined to listen now?”

Verdante looked at Thomas with slight expectation apparent across his face.

Thomas had been quite closed off about the possibility of it, but Verdante knew that Thomas would be even more interested once he found out more.

Even Verdante, himself, could not believe the findings he had stumbled across and their implications.

Taking out the small bog he brought out yesterday, Verdante put the bag on the table and spoke.

“If you are… then open that bag.”

“….?”

Mathilde had a rather confused look on her face, but Thomas was already reaching for the bag.

Rustle~Rustle~

Thomas moved his hands throughout the bag and took out the object that was inside.

As he did, both Mathilde and Thomas’ eyes grew wide with shock.

Verdante still had the mysterious smile across his face throughout the entire process.

Chapter 64 – Fin

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