Chapter 80:

Vol. 5 Epilogue- Inauguration

Hour Empty Child


“Whoo! Bring down the hall!”

One elated adventurer howled, sounds of merrymaking and roughhousing ensued in the chaotic mess known as the inauguration party. Every Alpha Heart adventurer was having it out—drinking their fill, music bursting their eardrums from radios, and even small fights and squabbles over who would take control of the TV which was enough to break the balance in the hall.

The reason being that the main hall was considered a pandemonium was because they were celebrating the arrivals of their new members—Kuki, Raika, and the Master’s son, Kudo. In Kudo’s case, they were supposed to have a party on the day that Kudo first entered, but Kudo ran away before they could. Now that he’s back, all the leftover energy from before seamlessly flowed out of their system.

They met the members first hand without taking a single break, and once they felt too overwhelmed, the three dashed away from them as they were distracted by the party, giving themselves some time to recuperate.

“Hah… they sure are friendly,” Kuki let out a windy breath, wiping away the sweat streaming down his forehead.

“I-It’s so much… I thought I was gonna faint,” Raika’s furry ears twitched like they were vibrating, her heart racing from meeting so many people at once without proper mental preparation.

“Hah, we’re gonna have to get used to this from now on because we’re going to take quests from here on forth.”

Kudo relayed the new policy which in his mind felt like unfortunate news, but he noticed the sudden gleam in their eyes instead.

“Really?!” Kuki shouted, his energy bursting forth from his facial expression.

“If we take quests from personal guilds, our ranking increases a whole lot! We can get a lot of better rewards too!” Raika’s ears twitched again, but this time they were jumping up and down just like her.

“T-That’s how it works?”

It was completely new to Kudo, his eyes popping open in surprise.

“Seriously?” Kuki tilted his head. “Why do you think that it’s recommended for everyone to join a personal guild? Not to mention, the more famous the personal guild, the better quests and rewards the members can get!”

“I see… I think Mother told me something like that once. Though, I never thought that it was better than the ordinary adventurer’s guild quests.”

“Though, there’s a lot of pressure that goes with it too,” Raika lifted her finger, a concerned look on her face. “If a member fails on his quest, then not only does the adventurer gets lashed at, the guild also gets blamed. It’s possible that the ranking for the guild itself will drop if the members do poorly…”

“Well, that’s to be expected,” Kudo folded his arms. “Nobody would trust a member of a guild if they keep failing quests…”

“Who cares about that?!” Kuki clenched his fist, a burning fire ablazed in his eyes. “All we gotta do is complete them without issues! Easy as pie!”

“T-That’s easier said than done, Kui!”

Raika screaming at her nonsensical friend again, Kudo formed a smile seeing the two bicker.

“Hey, Master’s kid! Mighty Jien demands that you come over here and drink with us!”

The dwarf who he met before, Jien, shouted to Kudo while waving his arms from the bar, flinching Kudo in the process.

“W-Wha…? But I don’t drink much…”

Kudo’s face turned blue as his stomach churned just from thinking about drinking alcohol, but the expressions on the members’ excited faces made it difficult to ignore them, and reluctantly went to them.

“Wow, Kudo sure is popular here…” Raika spoke in awe while seeing Kudo sitting on the bench chair, a mug filled with alcohol in his hand as he was kept dragged left and right as the adventurers began to sing songs as they drank, drops of liquor falling off their mugs.

“He is Hikari Valkyria’s son,” Kuki mentioned, giving a glance at Kudo as he drank from his own cup on his side.

“Yeah,” Raika’s eyes rested upwards, a glassy look in her eyes. “Kinda makes you wonder who is the father. Do you think he’s someone incredible?”

Imagining the father, Hikari Valkyria’s husband, they expected him to be a giant, god-like creature with rippling muscles and glowing eyes that would frighten a Raid monster to hide away in its cave.

“…Whoever he is,” Kuki shook his head to shake off the disturbing image. “He’s definitely not of this world if he made Hikari Valkyria a mother…”

“You’re certainly right about that, Kuki!”

One terrified shriek later from the both of them, Kuki and Raika jumped from their chairs and faced the one who answered right near their faces. To their surprise, it was Hikari Valkyria herself.

“Hehe, really makes you curious, eh? But, oh my, I can’t reveal such a thing so soon~”

She began acting coy, her fingers climbed to her lips in a seductive manner expressing a sultry look in her eyes.

Not only Kuki, but Raika as well, the two of them were taken in by her alluring atmosphere she created for herself for just a moment.

“Don’t worry about that for now,” Hikari returned to her gleaming smile. “And you don’t have to call me by my full name. You can just call me Master, or even Hikari—both are equally fine for me.”

“R-R-Right, Master!”

“Y-Y-Y-Yes, Master!”

The two straightened themselves up, her overpowering presence making them keel over their open stomachs. Kuki saluted as if he was acting like a true soldier responding to his captain, and when Hikari shot a glance at Raika, a small whimper escaped from her as her ears twitched, her towering aura making her body quiver.

“Raika, Kuki,” Then, for a moment, her powerful being was dramatically reduced—now, only a gentle smile took place. “Please take care of Kudo. He’s at that age where he wants to be independent.”

Seeing such a change in her demeanor, they knew that she was speaking for real. They took her words straight to their hearts.

“Kudo… he lost some very important people in his life. So he’s very sensitive. But he’s not the kind to let that get to him too much. Either way, please take care of him when you can. I’m trusting you both this special quest of mine, not as a guild master, but as his mother.”

Hearing her words, it was obvious how the two will respond.

“D-Don’t worry!” Raika exclaimed. “We’ll take good care of your son, just as he did with us!” She clenched her dainty fists, a determined look in her eyes as she was resolute in accomplishing the quest. Kuki did not say anything as his response was a well-done nod and smirk.

Hikari responded with a warm half-lidded smile, “Thank you.” Then, her expression immediately changed to a wild grin like an old drunken man. “Then, come on! Let’s keep partying!”

Without warning, she released her arms wide and grabbed the two’s heads within her grasp, both completely huddled deep on her soft chest. Her unbelievably soft body turned the two’s minds to mush, their eyes swirling from the intake of her powerful pheromones.

She dragged them further to the middle of the hall, the two trying to release themselves from her grasp, but now knew Kudo’s struggle with being trapped in her ridiculous strength.

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Whoo! It was tough work putting all this down here, but I finally did it. I hope everyone enjoyed reading Vol. 5 because, personally, this is one of my favorites. Kudo so far has joined an ultra powerful guild, along with new members, a new parent, and new comrades.

I'd like to thank the writers here for the inspiration on becoming more 'descriptive' in my writing, which I still don't think I did fairly well, but hopefully it's better than the last volume. Now, I'm sure that some of you might be wondering: "When's the next volume gonna come out?"

Here's the thing: I know that I made a date every time I finish a volume, saying that in a few months, I'll have another one coming, but this time it might not be so. I'm not saying that I'll be on hiatus, but I do require a bit more time—maybe around 3 months, maybe?—so around November, you can expect maybe a few chapters of Vol. 6.

Other than that, I'm already underway of making Vol. 6. It's still in the planning stages, but soon enough it'll be written and done with. I promise you that this volume will be more exciting than the usual!

ALSO! It might be possible that I might release a few Special chapters on the side stories of 'Hour Empty Child'. I don't exactly know when I'll create and publish them, but it'll be during the time when I'm making Vol. 6, which is also the reason why I'll be taking a while. I figured that I would publish a chapter every now and then to prove to people that I'm still alive.

Perhaps I might even make a new series overall... but that's maybe later than sooner.

Now that the news are out of the way, it's been a pleasure to write this volume and furthering the plot of Hour Empty Child, and I hope that everyone here will support me on making it better. Hope that everyone has a nice time after this!