Dharheim, City Port. Near Midnight.
A flying ship stood on one of the docks of the port quietly, but unlike the crews of other ships, the crew of this particular ship seed more confused and anxious.
It was the final day of theirs in the dwarf nation; they were only allowed to stay here for half a year at most, and once midnight hits, their permit to stay here will expire, and they will be forced to leave the port.
"Captain... there’s only about half an hour left now... It’s possible that Sir Rio will not return today..."
"The crew has also been away from ho for half a year now... everyone’s eager to leave... shall we-"
Before his subordinate could finish his sentence, the ship captain shook his head and denied imdiately.
"We have been given the mission to escort him back at all costs... unless the ti period of six months finishes, we will follow this mission..."
"We will stay here till the very last second... there’s still half an hour left... you should start preparing the ship for take-off in the anti..."
"We will wait till the very last mont..."
The subordinate didn’t want to argue with his boss, so he nodded his head and spoke.
"Okay, we will preheat the engine first for a smoother departure..."
The ship captain smiled at the subordinate and spoke.
"Good..."
"Don’t think that half an hour is a small amount of ti... the person we are waiting for is a powerful S-ranker and the ’Hero of Dawn’ who saved the world from destruction from the hands of a demon prince!"
"In half an hour... people like him can travel thousands of kiloters! Moreover, ’Darkstar’ Rio is famous for his terrifying stealth and speed capabilities..."
The subordinate had no words to argue against those facts.
Everyone knew how powerful Rio was, and people were even claiming him to be the next SS-ranker of the human empire, so it was common knowledge not to underestimate him.
Although Rio has been away from the spotlight in the past half a year, his popularity hasn’t died down in the slightest!
In fact, the na ’Darkstar’ has slowly beco a source of safety in the hearts of many and has beco a source of fear for the criminals.
With how horribly Rio deals with his prey, criminals say that they would rather be caught by Ashtel Rex and get disintegrated into nothingness than get caught by Rio, who might torture them horribly!
’I am sure he will be back soon...’
The ship captain was just an ordinary person, but after flying a magic ship for such a long ti through dangerous oceans, he had an extrely honed intuition.
And his intuition was telling him to wait for now and not rush things; it’s possible that Rio might return in this final half hour.
For the entire duration of the next half hour, the ship captain remained standing on the deck and kept waiting for Rio in person.
When only just five minutes were left and the ship’s engines were starting to light up and get ready for departure, a gust of wind hit the captain’s face, causing him to squint his eyes for a second.
And by the ti the captain managed to open his eyes, he found a familiar person appearing in front of him.
Leaning against the railing of the main deck of the ship, Rio had arrived at the very last minute and managed to board the ship before it departed!
"You are back! I knew you would manage to co back on ti!"
Once Rio was back, the ship captain didn’t waste a single second and imdiately ordered his subordinates to start the ship and depart through his communication device.
The flying ship imdiately left the port of the dwarf kingdom and started to drift into the vast ocean.
Standing on the main deck of the ship, Rio looked at the port of the dwarf kingdom with his usual emotionless face, but inside he felt quite a lot of jumbled emotions.
’One more journey has ended, one more mission accomplished... but there are a lot of missions left... I still have a very long road ahead...’
The port of the dwarf kingdom seed exceptionally beautiful in the night as the precious tals and ores used in making it shone brightly and beautifully in the darkness of the night.
From the distance, the port looked like a shining necklace of pearls and diamonds resting atop the vast ocean!
It was a very beautiful view, very fitting for the final departure mory of the dwarf kingdom.
"Sorry for making you wait... I got entangled in a lot of trouble but I managed to barely return on ti..."
"I appreciate that you stayed till the last minute just to wait for ..."
At Rio’s words, the ship captain smiled and waved his hand.
"No worries, it’s our duty to provide assistance to the hero of our nation in tis of need!"
The ship captain was a thoughtful person; he seed to have sensed the tiredness from Rio’s suppressed voice and offered Rio the key to a room to rest.
Rio had been working continuously for the past six months, and since the other party was offering him a place to rest, Rio didn’t decline the ship captain’s offer and took the keys.
It turned out that the keys were the sa that he had been given before, and it was the sa room that was assigned to Rio when he first boarded the ship from the human empire.
After nodding his head at the ship captain to say thank you, Rio left the main deck and headed straight for his room.
While opening the locked door of his room, Rio sighed deeply and thought to himself.
’Thankfully, the people on this ship are not strong enough to sense the presence of things I have hidden...’
’If they saw that coffin... the smiles from their faces would disappear...’
The ship crew seed to have made a big profit from this year’s trading, and they were all pleased and eager to return ho.
After seeing Rio, they greeted him happily and smiled at him.
Many of them had families waiting at ho, and they were finally going to et them after half a year, so Rio didn’t want to shatter those innocent smiles.
Thus, he kept the containers carrying Ellie’s body and the two souls hidden even after boarding the ship.
After entering his room, Rio sat down on a chair placed near the window, turned his sword into a flute once again, and started playing a lody.
The only difference was that the lody this ti was quieter and deeper, as if to represent the regrets and sadness of a half-failed mission.
Rio did manage to complete the mission, but he only succeeded in achieving half the objective.
Both Ellie and Liam ended up as just bodiless souls, and although it was better than complete loss, Rio considered this situation a major failure of his.
’I need to be stronger... strong enough that my friends do not need to sacrifice their life anymore to deal with the enemies...’
Zach, Riko, Liam, and Ellie.
All of them got involved in tragedies that could have been prevented with absolute strength.
’Raika... A Projection that can use legendary artifacts and even has a powerful skill...’
’The ’Echo Of Paradise’... I have never heard anything about this kind of skill or power in the original novel...’
’I will need to gather more information about this... and that lyre too...’
Rio’s mission to save Liam and Ellie from the spirit realm had ended, but new possibilities had been created at the sa ti.
New problems and new enemies have entered the stage, and new powers and abilities are needed to counter these new threats.
Moreover, as ti passes, more and more stronger people will appear as the chaos spreads everywhere.
The Age of Chaos isn’t too far anymore; to survive through the coming troubleso tis, powerful strength would be required, and Rio knows this truth better than anyone else in this world.
’Once I am done handling Liam and Ellie’s problems... I will have to go on my next stealing session right away; I need to gather as much power as I can before the real problem starts to appear...’
The chances and cheats of the protagonists were nurous, and there are still many of them that Rio hasn’t collected or stolen as of yet.
’I have already walked through hell; anything else will not deter anymore...’
With his back leaning against the chair and his legs resting atop the tea table, Rio played the flute as he looked at the vast ocean outside the window and the starry sky with great focus.
Moonlight from the full moon shone brightly on the flying ship as it flew through the clear sky below the night sky filled with countless stars.
Those twinkling stars were not only marking the end of a journey but were also shining to welco the beginning of a new ’journey’ that was about to begin!
Rio would later go on to na that lody played in the lonely night as,
{Tired Traveller, Let’s Go Ho...}
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