Matthew woke up to Ffyr chatting loudly by his side. He opened his eyes to see Sarah sitting on his computer chair and Ffyr on his bed, but talking loudly on purpose.

The fairy was telling his sister all that happened on Nuilynn. The war, the fighting, the Sif, the beach.

Sarah had a smile on her face while listening to everything as if it were a huge epic from an old fantasy book picturing the elegant dresses, the exuberant armors and everything else.

"Look!" Ffyr said, taking a little spin, showing off the clothes she got from the elves.

"This is so cool!" Sarah exclaimed, touching the fabric and studying the seams. "And so well done."

"You should see Matt’s armor! Hey, get up!" Ffyr poked Matthew. "Show her the armor Lynn gave you!"

Matthew groaned in protest, but obliged. He got up and, using his Shadow Form skill to take off his items from his Inventory, shaped the red dragon scale armor around his body.

"I didn’t know you could dress like that!" Sarah was surprised by the ease Matthew changed clothes, but then her eyes fell on his armor. "What is this? It looks like snake scales, but they are as hard as rocks." She noticed, passing her hand through the armor.

"These are red dragon scales." Matthew explained. "It used to belong to Lynn’s uncle, but Farzan gave it to me."

"He said it was a wedding gift." Ffyr added with a sly smile.

"Wedding?!" Sarah screamed. "You got married?!" She exclaimed.

"No!" Matthew tried to explain, but suddenly the door of his room opened.

"Who got married?" His mother asked, putting her head inside the room.

"No one!" Matthew protested.

"Lynn and Matt." Ffyr threw fuel in the fire.

"When did you get married?!" Matthew’s mother exclaimed.

"I didn’t!" Matthew protested again.

"But he will." Ffyr laughed.

"Congratulations!" His father screamed from the living room downstairs.

"Thank god! I’ll be able to see my baby getting married!" His mother dried her eyes from a tear.

"I’m not going to marry!" Matthew screamed.

"But you accepted the gift!" Sarah admonished him.

"You don’t like Lynn?" Ffyr teased him.

"I love her, and I did. But it’s too soon, I haven’t talked to her about it yet!" He defended himself.

"Then do it already!" His father screamed from downstairs. "I want to turn your room into a gym." He joked.

"The hell you are! His room will stay the same! We’re just going to put a bunk bed for our grandchildren!" His mother shouted back at his father, leaving the room.

"Grandchildren?" Matthew exclaimed loudly.

"I want to be an aunt." Sarah admonished him.

"What will I be?" Ffyr asked.

"An aunt too, of course!" Sarah hugged her. "You are the sister I never had!" She smiled.

"And the daughter I always wanted!" Matthew’s mother screamed from downstairs.

"What do you mean by that?!" Sarah left the room shouting at her mother.

"Mommy!" Ffyr joked, rushing after Sarah.

Matthew sat back on his bed laughing as the sounds of playful shouting took over the house. It was so good to be home.

He then looked at the ceiling lost in thought.

"I need a ring." He concluded.

Weeks passed by.

Matthew spent most of them relaxing at home or going out to dungeons with Sarah and helping her level up.

"What level are you?" He asked while she picked her new class.

"15." She answered empty-mindedly.

"Already?" Matthew was surprised.

"Well, I have had the Free Mana Absorption skill since I was 16. And I did sneak into dungeons before it was legal." She giggled. "Yet, I am hardly near your level progression." She protested.

"I almost died many times to get there." Matthew sighed.

"I know. I remember." She admonished him. "Glad you’re not as reckless as you used to be."

"I’m just stronger." Matthew mumbled, massaging his new scars he got during the war.

"Isn’t that Sarah?" They suddenly heard some voices asking.

It was a group of men as old as Sarah, all adventuring as they were.

One of them came over, a boy with dark ashen hair and green eyes. He had a huge smile on his face, but looked at Matthew with hostile eyes.

"Hey Sarah!" He greeted his sister.

"Hi Sebastian." Sarah waved at the man.

"Leveling up?" He asked while stealing glances at Matthew.

"Yeah. Getting some crystals." She engaged in small talk.

"And him?" Sebastian asked with a certain nervousness in his voice.

"Oh! He’s my brother, Matthew." She introduced him.

"Didn’t you say your brother was dead?" Sebastian ignored Matthew.

"No." Sarah was emphatic. "I said he was in hell. Literally. He came back."

"Oh!" The man was surprised by the revelation, but visually relieved.

Matthew suddenly felt protective of his sister and used his Identify skill on the boy. He was only level 5, 3 levels in Warrior and 2 levels in Mage. He carried a longsword and a shield, but was wearing just Laufgraan’s gym uniform.

Sebastian felt Matthew’s hostility when he was reading him. He shuddered.

"Guess I’ll see you at class tomorrow?" He asked Sarah.

"Of course." She smiled at him.

He then returned to his friends and resumed their adventure.

"He has a crush on you." Matthew commented with a disproving tone.

"I know. Most of them do." Sarah chuckled. "And don’t be a jerk. I don’t need you to protect me." She added.

"I’m not!" Matthew defended himself.

"Yeah, then why are you making that face?" She pointed at his face.

"I’m just..." He tried to defend himself, but he had no words for that.

"Let’s just go home." Sarah said in a bad mood.

Matthew drove Sarah home in his car that he bought just a couple of days earlier with all the crystals he accumulated in hell. It was a nice sports car with a powerful engine. Matthew had a lot of money after converting all his gains into currency.

He also bought new guns, and restocked his potions and bullets.

However, he had no drive to go into dungeons anymore. After fighting almost non-stop for more than 2 years, all he wanted was to relax with his family and friends.

Tylith, Michael and Paula came to visit them that night after Ffyr said she wanted to meet with the succubus again. Eric and Vanessa were also called, but Katia had a test the next day and needed to study, therefore they decided to stay home with her.

Matthew’s mother cooked dinner. Meatballs with spaghetti in a rich red sauce and a paella made with scallops, shrimps and crabs.

"How is she behaving?" Matthew asked Paula after eating.

"Tylith? Like an angel." Paula sighed, still not trusting the demoness. "She cleans, she helps with cooking. She’s still learning. She’s very helpful inside dungeons. And she sings like a diva." The woman frowned. "I don’t get it."

"She’s been through a lot in hell." Matthew said, filling Paula’s glass with naik he brought from Nuilynn.

"Michael is stupidly in love with her." She said while looking at her brother’s smile, sitting by Tylith’s side, while Ffyr told them tales about the war in Nuilynn.

"And Tylith?" Matthew asked.

"She flirts and plays with him, but when he tries to take things further, she shuts him off." Paula said, drinking.

"She hasn’t slept with him?" Matthew asked, surprised.

"With anyone, actually. Other than us, she doesn’t speak with anyone else. I thought succubi were these sex deviants and all. But she’s quite prude, other than how she dresses and how she teases Michael." Paula was surprised herself.

"Succubi are sex deviants." Matthew emphasized. "I mean, she used to sleep around in hell just for the fun of it. I wonder if what happened to her changed her somehow." He pondered.

"Yes. Having someone obsessed with you is quite hard..." Paula hugged herself remembering her own predicament.

"Also... She seemed quite shaken with the gentleness of the angels. I don’t think she had ever been treated like that before in her life." Matthew added. "She must have a lot on her head. Be good to her."

"Like I’m anything else." Paula scoffed and messed his hair with her hand. "You’ve grown, kid." She commented.

"Yet you and Vanessa keep calling me kid." Matthew lamented.

"And your mother keeps calling you baby." Paula laughed.

Matthew laughed as well and drank a bit of naik.

"And how are you with Vanessa and Eric?" Paula asked after also taking a drink. "You had a huge crush on her."

"I’m actually happy for them. They always did get along very well." Matthew smiled. "And I have Lynn now. I was just... Young, I guess."

"Well, I’m also still single. If you’re still young." Paula winked at him, making him choke.

Paula laughed loudly. He was still the same, she thought. The same nervous and troubled kid she knew and came to care about like a little brother.