65: Return to Pacific Town: The Birth of a Kingdom

July 13, 1497, Age of the Sea Circle

Orion saw the fog that had appeared in the distance and smiled with joy.

Finally, after several months of travel, he had returned to his hometown!

During his nearly year-long absence, Orion had kept the fog active around the island, preventing anyone from entering or leaving the bay without his permission

For the inhabitants of Pacific Town, the fog was a mysterious phenomenon that had suddenly appeared, preventing their town from being attacked by the countless pirates who had emerged after Roger's death.

The fog lasted 100 days, but Orion could recharge it using SP.

Since deploying it at the island's entrance bay, he had renewed it twice, spending 750 SP in total. The price was quite high, but the assurance that his family wouldn't be in danger made it worth every system point invested.

"Orion, are we reaching your home?" Kalifa asked curiously, watching the fog draw closer

Orion had told her several things about Pacific Town during the voyage, and she knew about the mysterious fog that acted as a barrier to entry.

"That's right, we're about to arrive," Orion said excitedly, then placed a hand on the girl's head and added,

"But it's not just my home. From now on, this will be your home too!"

Kalifa smiled happily, feeling warmth in her chest.

The two ships passed through the fog without a hitch, and the small town appeared before the eyes of all the people he'd recruited

Most of these people were refugees who had followed Orion in search of a better future. Throughout the journey, they had experienced a mixture of terror and hope, a mix that was difficult to describe, even for themselves.

Now that they were finally reaching their final destination, their emotions were running high. They hoped that the gamble they'd made had been the right one, and that they could finally find a place in the world where they could settle down in peace and live in tranquility.

The two ships docked in the small harbor, and Orion disembarked along with the rest of the people, who proactively followed him.

There, the few inhabitants of Pacific Town had gathered to welcome him.

He had been in contact with Giolla and his family since entering the South Blue, and everyone already knew of his return after months of absence

To the people of the small town, Orion was a hero, having protected their lives countless times.

When they learned from Giolla that he had been the one to unleash the mysterious fog at the entrance to the bay, their high opinion of him skyrocketed, turning into something close to fanaticism.

Orion received warm greetings from the townspeople as he made his way toward his family.

His parents, Paul and Lira, watched him with tears in their eyes. Even though Orion was in his adult form, to them, he was still their little boy.

On the other hand, Orion wanted to appear before his parents in his natural form, as he knew it was strange for them to constantly see him in his adult form.

They knew of his ability to transform into an adult, as Orion had used it to fight the pirates who had attacked the town previously. But until he gained power-ups by absorbing energy sources, his ability to remain in his adult form was very limited, and his situation was completely different from the current one.

Now, if he chose, he could remain in his adult form continuously for about three days. However, it was quite exhausting to do so, and he preferred to return to his natural form whenever it wasn't strictly necessary to remain in his adult form.

The reason he wasn't in his natural form now was simply for the sake of the people he'd recruited along the way, who weren't entirely well emotionally and needed someone to lean on.

It was he, in his adult form, who had saved them, and that was the image he kept in front of them. There was no need to reveal his true child form and make their already troubled hearts suffer even more.

He had already warned his parents that he would appear in his adult form, and told them the reason; they, of course, had no objection. As long as their son returned safely, nothing else mattered.

Orion saw the two young children clinging to his father's pants, looking at him curiously. His younger siblings, Sofia and Dante, were about to turn two and had grown significantly since he'd last seen them.

Even though Orion and his parents had agreed to have their 'official reunion' alone after he'd addressed the refugee issue, his mother, Lira, couldn't bear the emotion. Stepping forward, she hugged him tightly, crying and thanking the heavens for his safe return.

Even though his parents always tried to maintain an appearance of strength in front of him, not wanting to slow down their incredible son's progress, there were times when it was impossible to control one's emotions, and this was one of them.

Orion hugged his mother lovingly. He'd missed her too and was concerned for her well-being, even with the Mysterious Mist covering the island's entrance.

Paul approached without saying anything and joined the group hug, while the two young children saw their parents hugging this strange man and decided to follow suit.

The image of the family reunion was truly a tender and heartwarming scene, but Orion felt he was being unfair to his parents by appearing before them in his adult form, so he simply thought,

"Fuck it!" and undid his Age Change ability, returning to his natural seven-year-old appearance.

The townspeople tacitly surrounded them, preventing the people Orion had recruited along the way from seeing exactly what was happening.

The Lysander family spent a long time expressing their affection in a long hug, replete with tears and sighs, and Orion even 'released' his child self, which had been missing for a long time.

As for his child self, little Orion, it must be said that he hadn't completely "disappeared."

To begin with, little Orion wasn't a different person, but rather himself when the memories of his past life were blocked.

His child body didn't have the physical and cerebral capacity to allow his adult consciousness to operate 24/7; it simply wasn't physically capable.

That's why, ever since he was reborn in this world, his adult consciousness—which consisted of the moments in which he had memories of his past life and his adult capacity for thought—remained dormant for long periods of time.

As his body grew and his brain developed, the 'hardware' gap between his child self and his adult self became smaller and smaller, allowing him to retain his memories for increasingly longer periods.

Finally, by the time he was 7, his body and mind were developed enough for his adult consciousness to remain awake for about 16 hours a day. This meant that, discounting the hours spent sleeping, he could maintain his memories and adult mind throughout the day.

Still, Orion's body was still developing, and he hadn't yet reached the point where Little Orion would disappear or fully integrate with his adult self.

That would likely happen during adolescence, though he couldn't be sure, as he had no deep knowledge of neuroanatomy and was simply drawing inferences from his worldly knowledge.

During the time he was away from home, Orion didn't feel the need to let Little Orion resurface. But now, standing before his parents, whom he could love as such thanks to the existence of his memoryless child self, he believed it was appropriate to suppress his memories and let Little Orion resurface.

The two of them were the same person, but after all, their personalities were somewhat different due to the lack of certain experiences.

Only Little Orion could interact innocently with his parents, making this reunion all the more meaningful.

It should also be noted that the adult version of him loved his parents just as much as his child self did, and could even better understand the feeling of reunion after a long separation, because he was more familiar with concepts such as absence, death, and so on.

Ultimately, it was an advantage that he could embrace his parents with both the experienced mind of an adult and with the innocence of a child returning home.

He had never considered his inability to maintain consciousness 24/7 to be a disadvantage, and was even grateful for it. Otherwise, he would have missed out on so many beautiful experiences he could now enjoy.

For example, this heartfelt hug with his parents.

A long time passed until the Lysanders' emotional reunion ended.

Orion returned to his adult form, both physically and mentally, and said goodbye to the townspeople who had come to welcome him, heading toward the uninhabited area behind the town, where Giolla was waiting to help him settle the refugees and other recruits.

Orion planned to settle these people first. Afterward, he could visit Rouge, who had stayed back home, or perhaps have a fiery encounter with Giolla, after almost a year without using his 'Marital Bliss' ability.

It didn't take them long to leave the town and enter the uninhabited area; Pacific Town was quite small, after all.

The people who had been recruited by Orion saw that they were leaving the town and entering an area that seemed uninhabited, and they immediately began to get nervous. However, Orion didn't say anything and continued leading them to their destination.

They walked for half an hour before finally reaching the place Orion had chosen to settle these people and where he would found his kingdom.

It was a part of the island he'd been 'cleansing' with Giolla for some time. His plan had always been to usurp the territory occupied by the wild beasts on the gigantic island where Pacific Town was located; he'd already eliminated several of them to establish this place as his territory.

While he'd been away for the past year, Giolla had continued her work without taking a break, successfully establishing an area the beasts considered "human territory" and didn't approach too closely.

There were always a few beasts who tried to test the boundaries and ventured into the area, but more often than not, they ended up roasted on a stake, becoming the beautiful artist's lunch.

Orion approached Giolla, who stood to the side awaiting his arrival, and kissed her passionately, not caring much about the presence of others. It had been too long since he'd seen her, and he longed to take her in his arms.

Still, he didn't advance too far or let his feelings get out of control. There would be time to show the sensual artist the advantages of being able to spend long periods in his adult form, but for now, he had official business to attend to.

Orion walked up to a large rock and, using his 'Art Coating' ability, transformed it into a large platform, where he stood imposingly, overlooking all the people gathered nearby.

He took a deep breath and raised his voice so everyone could hear him.

"This is the end of our journey; we have finally reached our destination. I know that as you look around, you're still overcome with uncertainty, which is normal when you've left everything behind to start anew."

"But let me tell you, you will not regret following me here. We may now have nothing but the earth beneath our feet and the sky above our heads, but it is precisely because we have nothing that we can build anything we want."

"This is the first day you have arrived here, and I want to promise you, here and now, that you will live much better lives than before under my reign."

"For those who wish to advance, you will have opportunities to do so here; for those who simply wish to live a peaceful and uneventful life, you will be able to do so too!"

"Today is the birth of our kingdom. Here, we will not be governed by the norms of the rest of the world. We will make our own rules and live in freedom!"

"Right now, I declare that the Pacific Kingdom has been formally established!"

Orion finished his words, and the people who had followed him here responded to his words in different ways. Some nodded silently, others shouted in encouragement, others knelt and cried, or prayed.

These people were a group he had recruited from different places, and no sense of belonging had formed yet. The only thing that united them was the desire to escape tragedy, and though it seemed little, it made their hearts beat as one, despite their varied reactions.

Orion officially declared the establishment of his kingdom, and a notification appeared on the system screen.

*You have established the kingdom called "Pacific." Do you want to register it as your main territory? YES/NO*

Orion selected "YES" without hesitation, and a new function called "Kingdom Building" appeared in the system.

Orion didn't immediately review this new function in detail, as he still had to help people settle in this area.

After entering South Blue, Orion had contacted Giolla and told her his plans. They had been in daily contact for the past month, and Orion had asked her to help him prepare for the influx of refugees.

Giolla had built a large number of wooden houses on her own, which were rather precarious but still more than enough to get started. The people of this world were accustomed to living through all kinds of tragedies and were resilient.

He only needed to provide them the necessary foundation, and they would build their future with their own hands.

Of course, Orion wouldn't ignore them after recruiting them, and would do everything in his power to ensure they lived good lives under his reign.

Although Giolla had built a large number of houses, the number of people who had accompanied him was simply too large to accommodate them all, so Orion brought out a large number of tents he'd prepared in advance from his inventory to complete the establishment of his kingdom's first settlement.

The people he'd recruited were eager to put down roots somewhere, and they began to settle in a fairly orderly manner, under the direction of Orion and Giolla.

That night, once the people finished preparing their dwellings, Orion took out a large amount of supplies from his inventory and held a grand banquet to celebrate the birth of the new kingdom.

The refugees were able to relax for the first time in a long time. They ate, drank, sang, and danced around a large bonfire, and let their emotions run free. The inhabitants of Pacific Town, who had been recognized by the system as part of his kingdom, also came to the banquet to celebrate the kingdom's creation and express their desire to officially join.

They were an independent town, unaffiliated with any other power, and had lived that way since the town's creation. However, upon learning that Orion, their local hero, had founded a kingdom, they immediately asked to be "annexed".

Orion hadn't considered doing so formally and planned to simply continue protecting his hometown as he always had. However, it was good that the residents of the small town had decided to take the initiative to join his kingdom, since they were now recognized as his subjects on the system screen, which would obviously be beneficial in the future.

Orion slipped away in the middle of the celebrations and entered Giolla's house.

The sensual woman was waiting for him, posing naked in her bed, her eyes filled with overwhelming desire. They'd been separated for too long, and their bodies were drawn together like two magnets! Orion undressed so fast, he could've broken a world record in his past life, then launched himself at the artist like a ferocious beast.

He began to kiss her passionately, his hands running over her soft skin.

Giolla, who had been waiting for this moment for a long time, immediately took Orion's manhood in her hand and looked at him with a seductive expression, sticking out her playful tongue.

She lowered her head, intending to show him all her affection, while Orion took a deep breath, running his hand through her hair and feeling the warm, wet sensation envelop him.

However, before they could continue showing their affection, the bedroom door swung open, and little Ina entered, a large piece of meat on a bone in hand, which she ate with great joy, her face smeared with grease.

The air seemed to freeze for a moment. The girl was petrified by the sight of the two naked people in bed. Giolla freed her mouth from her amorous activities and tried to cover up the scene in a panic, while Orion immediately opened a Space Door in the bed, through which they both fell into the Pocket Dimension. Leaving only the shocked girl in the room, having witnessed something she wasn't supposed to see.