001 - What Makes it Hard to Go Home ?

"Hahaha, come on Ingvild, make the waves bigger!" Djeeta's cheerful voice rang out as she surfs on the lake.

Djeeta skillfully rides the tall waves of water. "Ok, Djeeta!" Ingvild responds by using her powers to increasing the waves size on the lake.

"Yeah, like that!"

Djeeta is clearly having a great time riding the waves, while Lyria and Ophis play in the water on the lake's edge.

After activating Ingvild's mana, she can now easily control the water and create such large waves.

"Alright Ingvild, that's enough. We should continue your training." I say to Ingvild after letting her enjoy herself for a while.

"Okay."

"Hey Djeeta, you can make the waves yourself, right? Ingvild and I want to continue her training." I shout toward Djeeta.

"Yeah, sure!" Djeeta replies, then leaps from the waves and dives into the lake.

After that, Ingvild and I walk to the other side of the lake to get a bit away from the others.

"So, what should I try next?" Ingvild asks me, eager to continue her training.

"Well, your affinity is water, and your Sacred Gear has the ability to control dragons, so I'm going to summon someone to help you." I reply, then raise my left hand toward the lake.

"Come to me, Wamdus."

As I speak, the water in the lake starts to move and fly toward where I'm pointing with my hand. Then all the water begins to gather into a large water sphere.

The water sphere begins to transform into a large jellyfish, though it continues to grow in size.

From beneath the jellyfish, many dragon heads begin to form, staring at us with sharp eyes.

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But when the dragons see who summoned them, they look at each other and nod.

The jellyfish is then enveloped in a blue light, making Ingvild cover her eyes due to the brightness.

The jellyfish shrinks really fast until it forms a small figure holding an umbrella.

"Yahoo, Rei! Wam here~" a childlike voice calls out from within the light.

"Hello Wam." I wave my hand at her.

Soon the light fades, allowing Ingvild to open her eyes and see the small girl with the large umbrella floating in front of her.

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"What!? She's the dragon from before???" Ingvild looks shocked as she sees Wamdus appearing in this form.

Wamdus then floats closer to us until she's right in front of both of us.

She turns toward Ingvild and can senses something from her. "Yahoo, another Rei girl! My name is Wamdus, but you can call me Wam." Wamdus says while raising her hand that isn't holding the umbrella toward Ingvild.

However, upon hearing Wamdus refer to her as a 'Rei girl'" Ingvild's face immediately turns red. "Wha—!? 'Rei girl'!?" She tries to cover her blushing cheeks.

"What happened to her?" Wamdus asks, confused by Ingvild's reaction.

"Well, just give her a moment…" the only thing i can respond while shaking my head.

After a moment, Ingvild finally returns to normal. "I'm sorry about that…"

"Hm, so why did you call me Rei? Do you want me to eat your cooking again?" Wamdus ask to me with her eyes sparkling.

"If you want, I can make you something, but for now, there's something I want you to help with." I explain to her then begin telling her about Ingvild and her abilities related to water and dragons.

"Ohhhh~, you want me to help train her abilities?"

"Yep."

"Hmmm…" Wamdus appears to be considering whether to accept or decline my request.

Wamdus is one of the six dragons created by Bahamut to regulate the world's elements: fire, water, earth, wind, light, and dark. Since Wamdus regulates the water element, she's highly compatible for training Ingvild, and she's a dragon too.

"Please, help me train." Ingvild says to Wamdus, bringing her hands together in a pleading gesture.

"If you help Ingvild train, I'll cook you anything you want."

Hearing this, Wamdus immediately responds without hesitation, "Wam accepts your offer." with her eyes sparkling once again.

Wamdus then grabs Ingvild's arm. "Let's go so Wam can eat faster!" Before Ingvild can respond, the two of them disappear into a water sphere that Wamdus creates.

"So Wamdus is taking Ingvild to her dimension. Well, at least there she can train as long as she wants." I say then begin walking back toward Djeeta and the others who are playing in the lake.

The six dragons have their own dimensions, but ever since they appeared in the Sky Realm, they rarely use them anymore because the Sky Realm is more interesting than their own homes.

But while I was walking, I suddenly hear a telepathic message from someone I had been waiting for

"Rei? Can you hear me?"

I immediately stopped walking and respond telepathically, "Grayfia? Have you finished? I'll come pick you up if you're done."

"Yes, Rei, I've finished my work and I'm not a maid anymore, but... there's one problem for which I need your help, if you don't mind." I hear Grayfia's hesitant voice.

"What happened? You can just tell me I don't mind helping you."

I didn't hear Grayfia's voice for a while, as if she is feeling very uncomfortable asking for my help, until I finally hear her again

"You know that I have a little brother, right? During the war, he suddenly disappeared, but now I've found where he is from Katarea's information..."

Ah, Euclid, huh... That goddamn siscon who even made a fake Boosted Gear in the novel because he thought Grayfia liked Issei, which she didn't...

"Sure, you want to ask for my help to bring him back?"

"Yes... I'm really sorry for the trouble." Grayfia replies.

"What about your older sister? Does she know as well?"

"Yes, she knows, but Sirzechs told her not to approach Euclid yet because they still don't know the full capabilities of the Old Devil Faction."

But while I am talking with Grayfia, I suddenly notice a shadow starting to appear beside me. Soon, the shadow begins to take shape, and I see that Death is back.

"Dear... they are already dead..." Death immediately embraces me from behind after appearing.

"Welcome back, Death. Did you get hurt from fighting them?" I hold Death's hand around my neck.

"Rei? Are you still there?" Grayfia sounds confused when she hears me speaking but not to her.

"Sorry, Grayfia, but—" Before I can finish my sentence, Death quickly covers my mouth with her hand.

"No... talking to another... girl... while we are here." Death whispers into my ear in a way that sends chills down my spine.

"Wait? We?"

"Yes, we... Darling." I hear a familiar voice emerging from nowhere. Then Death shadow begins to expand enveloping the area around us.

Then in front of me a woman begins to emerge from Death's shadow. "Ahhh... How I miss you..."

The woman tries to fully emerge from the shadow until her entire body is visible. Now I can see her with her bright red eyes staring at me with a possessive look.

'Oh no...' is the only thought I have when I see Nier suddenly appearing here.

"Ufufu... Seeing your cute expression makes me so happy." Nier says as she slowly steps closer to me.

With Death behind me, I can neither step back nor do anything so all I can do is watch as Nier continues to approach me.

'Oh right, Djeeta and Lyria,' I glance behind Nier, where Djeeta and the others are playing earlier... but they are already gone?

Seeing me glance behind her, Nier immediately grabs my face and turns it to make me look at her. "Aha... If you're looking for Captain, they are already gone." Nier says with a smile then bringing her face closer to mine.

'Goddammit, those two have already run away!'

"Fufufufu... our darling." Nier giggles as she caresses my cheek, while Death hugging my neck from behind prevents me from moving...

So, both of them continue to caress my body and my face and Nier frequently kissing me while whispering how much they love me without end...

"Nier, Death, could you both stop for a moment?" I try to say to them.

But as soon as I speak, the atmosphere around us became heavy and extremely dark, and from Nier I can see a dark aura indicating that she is angry.

"No... no... Darling, don't reject us!" Nier murmurs, staring at me with such intensity that it sends shivers down my spine.

Before Nier misunderstands or does something like stabbing me with the Dagger of Death again, I quickly kiss Nier deeply, causing her eyes to widen.

"Umm~" The aura emanating from Nier starting to disappears, and she is now enjoying the kiss.

After a while, I stop our kiss once I sense that the aura she is emitting has completely dissipated.

"Don't forget about our agreement Nier. I will accept your love if you don't act like that anymore." I say to her seriously.

Nier immediately realizes that I am speaking to her with a serious tone, and immediately her expression changes to one of sadness as if she is about to cry. "Ahh... I'm sorry..." Nier replies with small voice.

"Your expression won't change what we've agreed upon, Nier..."

Hearing this, Nier's expression quickly shifts back to normal. "Tch..." She then releases her grip on my cheeks.

Despite this, Nier immediately walks to my left side and hugs my arm tightly.

From the way her Erune ears are moving, I know she won't let go until she's satisfied, so I decide to ask Death.

"Can you tell me, Death? Who tried to stop you from killing Cao Cao?"

Death begins to explain that after finding them, she appeared before them and they immediately attacked her.

However, they were no match for Death, so she easily killed those who stand in her way.

But just as she is about to kill Cao Cao, a monkey suddenly appeared and attacked her, claiming that Cao Cao is an underling of someone strong that even that monkey was afraid named Indra.

Of course, Death didn't understand what the monkey meant, so she killed the monkey as well and continued to chase Cao Cao, who tried to escape.

And now after killing them, Death then returned here with Nier, having used their souls to summon Nier to this world.