Chapter 83: Im back, Lyria!
Harry traveled for twenty days and covered only one fourth of the distance that he had to travel in order to reach his destination.
Even merchants and travelers were considerably faster than him in their journey this time, as Harry was travelling slower than a snail. He slept like a log for ten hours everyday, and ate his breakfast and lunch peacefully, making sure to try out every single local exotic cuisine which caught his eye, thus becoming a hard core foodie.
He was looking at the system's interface, currently exhilarated. After all, his TP had finally reached around 200, just the amount he needed to buy the 'Teleport Cooldown Decrease'.
He used his TP to buy the upgrade and immediately checked the current cooldown of the cross world teleportation ability. He felt momentarily dumbfounded when he saw it's current status that said 'Ready'.
Pluto laughed and said, "Seems the system isn't as sadistic as you think, is it Harry? The cooldown of the ability has been reduced to a month, and taking into account the past few days that you have spent in the journey to go to Eryeth, and come back, the cooldown has been completed!"
Harry smiled and said, "Well, I can't believe it, but it seems that the system does have a conscience and a heart."
Harry clicked on it and felt his body lurch and a familiar wave of dizziness and nausea overcome him before he was standing in the oh so familiar tunnel that felt magical.
He then found a problem with the teleportation ability. He voiced his doubt to Pluto, "Pluto, wouldn't me travelling to Lyria again count as a use of the ability, thus triggering the cooldown again?"
Pluto paused for a second before saying with a hesitant tone, "I forgot about that.... Well, we'll use the system's usable claim again! After all, a month has passed. We can claim a permanent double sided portal. "
Harry facepalmed and said, "Are you even really a god? For being a god with abundant experiences, you sure don't act like one!"
Pluto didn't respond to his remark and Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He cursed his fate thinking that he should've atleast gotten a cute goddess or a loli after his glitch. Pluto heard his musings and immediately suggested, "I can change my form into a goddess! Do you want me to?"
He immediately changed into a girl's skirt and looked at him and winked. Harry immediately screamed out of horror at the sight that he had just saw and wanted a full memory wipe.
He swore at Pluto and cursed his eighteen generations for making him see this kind of atrocious sight.
He then walked forward into the tunnel towards the dim light that should be the exit, burying this memory deep into his mind so that he doesn't remember it ever again. Pluto who had just been cursed at ferociously stood there like a statue, feeling that he didn't look that bad.
Harry then felt his body lurch and a wave of nausea and dizziness overcome him before he stood in front of the majestic looking and intimidating city wall. He smiled and said in a voice barely audible, "I'm back, Lyria."
A man who was about to enter Lyria saw Harry pop out of thin air and felt his heart lurch. He rubbed his eyes again and again, hoping that he was just hallucinating. But the teenager didn't disappear from his sight and calmly entered Lyria. The man decided that his eyes were playing tricks with him and didn't bother with what just happened.
After all, he had travelled continuously from a few days, so his body must be exhausted. Perhaps hallucination was a symbol that he must be exhausted. 'Yes, that must be it.', justified the man to himself before entering Lyria.
Harry proceeded through the security checks of Lyria and thought that no one recognized him until he entered Lyria, when he felt ten people following him. He turned into an alley and took out his dagger aiming towards the men who followed him, about to throw it on them when one of them screamed, "Your Majesty! Stop! We mean no harm!"
["Isn't he acting a bit na?ve? He's the king! Obviously people would recognize him!", said the editor while scoffing.
The author felt his patience draining away every second.]
Harry paused mid attack, not knowing what to do, when the man hurriedly continued explaining, "The queen expected you to come back, so she ordered the soldiers to not make a fuss when you come back but to lead you to the castle!"
Harry understood what was going on. Aoi probably didn't want his arrival to disrupt the visitor's checking process, and hence arranged this.
He smiled sheepishly feeling that it was their fault for sneaking up on him and said, "Lead the way."
The soldiers did as they were ordered and led Harry towards the castle. They kept casting glances at him as if wanting to ask something, when Harry asked, "What happened? Do you soldiers want to ask something?"
One of the soldiers, who was a girl, immediately took this chance and asked with a pleading expression, "Your Majesty, when you went, all the light novels stopped! One of the novels even stopped exactly at a cliff hanger! I've been waiting over a month to know what happens! Maybe you could give me a spoiler or two? What happens to Neo?! Does he live or die?! Does he identify Alice's feeling for him?!"
Harry didn't know whether to laugh or cry listening to the barrage of questions shooting out of the girl's mouth continuously like bullets shooting out of a LMG.
He just realized that he had totally forgotten about the light novels. He suddenly felt remorse for all the novel addicts of his kingdom who followed his novels. He had been a very irresponsible author, hadn't he? He smiled softly and said, "I'll start writing. You'll get the next volume very soon. But, I can't give you a spoiler though."