The Reincarnation of the Red Dragon

46. Final Letter

My mother stood there holding back her tears, Wilfred had left the room secretly unnoticed by Ray. I told my mother to sit on the chair next to me, holding her hand trying to calm her down.

My mother had never been like this before, she was a strong woman who did everything herself, my mother was not the type of person who could be bullied by anyone and she always stood up for herself.

After her tears stopped flowing from her face, Ray asked her what had happened.

"What's the matter, what happened to Dad?"

"Your father he's gone."

"What did you mean to go, did she... die?"

Ray already knew that this might happen. When one was exposed to the shadow beast plague, at most they would not manage to survive for more than a year, it was a miracle that he had remained alive all this time.

Ray shook his head hoping that what he was thinking was wrong.

"Your father has been taken away, he was taken away by the Shadow Beast." Tears started to wash over my mother's face again.

I was surprised by what I heard. Shadow beasts only took people if it was worth the effort they put in. When one was infected by the shadow beast plague, there would be two things happening to them. The first thing is that the person will go crazy or they will die within a year.

The second thing more often happens, the shadow beast will try to enter to take over his body, similar to the bear king Ray saw a few years ago. Although this was a rare occurrence, the chances of success were so low that they would usually only take over if the host body was strong.

But my father's been around this long, so we all assumed it would never happen.

Mother continued.

"Your father had fought the plague that was in his body the whole time, and then one day he managed to take control for a moment. He told me to tell the villagers to evacuate immediately, that he could no longer fight it. I helped the villagers to evacuate but I decided to stay by your father's side."

"Has mother been hurt?" Said Ray frantically looking at his mother's body to see if there were any visible injuries.

"No I'm fine. When I tried my best to help her, even though I realized everything I did was in vain and would only hurt her. Your father told me ... he told me .. to kill him, he said it would be the best option.but I can't do it Ray, how can I kill your father."

My mother started crying again. Looking at my mother's face filled with tears I was furious.

Ray is angry at the Shadow Beast for taking his father, Ray is angry at the humans for not being able to do anything, but at worst Ray is angry at himself.

Angry at yourself because for the past fifteen years Ray has barely made any progress in finding a way to unlock all the skills locked by the system.

Ray thinks his father will be fine and one day when Ray regains his dragon skills, he can use them to heal his father and now Ray's heart feels like it's split in two, because Ray's dear mother has to bear all this burden.

We both talked for a while before my mother left. Ray asked his mother what he would do now. He said that he would work in the adventurer guild to help the people. Fortunately it was far from the border.

But just before my mother left Avrion Academy, she gave me a note. He said the note was from my father and he wrote it before he was infected by the shadow plague.

She originally wanted to give it to me after I passed the entrance examination of the Avrion academy, with the whole situation that happened at that time my mother had completely forgotten about it until now.

"Ray dear, dear,

I know you're talented and can do anything on your own, and you have your father and mother's genes in you anyway. Even though you look troubled and always try hard when you are young, I know you are special since your father and mother looked at you at birth. After you returned from the forest carrying Gary and Amy on your back, father went into the forest and saw a mid-level savage beast that had been killed. I don't know why you're hiding your true abilities, this is my message to you Ray, don't ever let anyone bully you, not because of your special red hair or anything else. I know you can become the number one knight in Avrion academy and I hope to become the number one graduate there."

After he finished reading it Ray threw the letter into the trash and thought to himself.

"Based on a stupid father, how could he see me being the best in Avrion's academy right now."

Ray climbed onto the roof of the building, it was the best place for him to think clearly.

That night was the night of the full moon and the sounds of magical beasts could be heard from a distance. The sight calmed my mind. It seems like this world is adding to my list of enemies.

****

Ian and Slyvia had just returned from the white knight training session, when they entered the room everyone was there besides Ray.

The group made a list of names for the task of cleaning the room and today it was Ian's turn to take out the trash. When Ian went to take out the trash that day, he could see what looked like a letter in the trash. It was a strange thing for him because the knights were not allowed to receive letters from outside. Ian did not want to nosy read the letter but inevitably he had read the first few lines.

"What you read there, big man," Dan said.

Ian had just finished reading the contents of the letter and realized that it was a very personal thing that no one should see.

"Emm nothing."

"As for what you're hiding the big man, could it be a love confession letter."

Ian quickly placed the letter behind his back.

Bikau quietly crept up from behind Ian and took the letter from behind. Everyone had now gathered to read the contents of the letter.

"It's so sweet, but how did he get a letter from his parents I don't think knights were allowed to receive a letter from outside?" ask Slyvia.

Gary went back to his bed.

"Not as sweet as you think. Ray's father is infected with a shadowy plague. The letter must have been written before the incident."

Everyone in the room was silent. No one there had experienced what Ray had experienced, but they had heard rumors and incidents about how it felt. They could not help but feel sorry for him. Some of them even thought that this was the reason why Ray was like that. He never talks much to his group and likes to be alone.

Gary had known Ray for a long time, but whenever the group wanted to ask him questions about Ray, Gary was like he barely knew Ray at all.

From then on they decide that they will try harder to interact with Ray, hoping he will be open to them in the future.