Third person POV
As of now, Ruslav's population has risen a bit to 1,020 (including both Partial and Hybrid Vamzoms, as well as non-Vamzoms who were parents of Hybrid Vamzoms). This was comparable to 200-300 years ago, when its population was only 800-900, meaning that population growth was slow due to a few factors like their war with the human kingdoms and other races. But back in Nuevo Tacloban, Ormoc and Paulina were amazed and fascinated by how busy and nice it was, and Artem, Timru, and a few of their Vamzom comrades explained about it in a summarized form. Now these two know how Basilio maintained and ran his country very well.
A bit later, by 3:09 p.m., all of them went to Basilio's castle home, and there, Ormoc and Paulina were so stunned and astonished to see such a nice and exquisite form of architecture of the castle. "Dude, this was so beautiful," Ormoc commented. "What are your tastes for architecture to make such an exquisite piece of building?"
"Well…" Helena chuckled a bit nervously, "…our predecessors who ordered its construction had a variety of tastes that combined and synthesized into this thing of a beauty."
"You guys were smart, right?" Paulina replied.
"Yes," replied Artem, "we are also into science and experiments to turn non-Vamzoms into ones like us."
"Come on!" Ormoc was shocked. "That was too brutal! Like something straight out of a horror movie!"
"Yeah, but we don't do that anymore due to ethical and moral reasons," responded Juhani.
"Oh…"
"Thank goodness…" Paulina added with relief.
And so, after that on-Ormoc-and Paulina's-side, shocking revelation of the Forest Vamzoms' brutal deeds, all of them went inside, and the tour for Ormoc and Paulina continues with the part about the castle. Inside, Ormoc and Paulina were even more astonished to see how nice and royal and aristocratic-style its interior was. These featured paintings of different subjects like figures, some expensive and prized vases (though a few of them because the Forest Vamzoms had returned the rest to their owners as an act of their reconciliation effort under Basilio's orders not too recently), and a few expensive articles like carpets and weapons of old and modern on display on the walls. But what fascinated Ormoc and Paulina was the Andalusian-style courtyard of the castle.
"Woah, are these columns made of marble or something?" Ormoc asked while gazing at the white columns and the fountain.
"Yes, reinforced marbles," responded Helena.
"How?"
"These were infused with both magic and materials to make them stronger and withstand elements for years to come," Chivo added with his Sekai-Stream-and-textbook-originated knowledge.
"Oh…okay then…"
And after a bit of time, Ormoc, Paulina, and Basilio sat down on the flat, wide, and circular fences of the fountain while Chivo and the others stood with a short and personal-level space for them to talk to each other. And then, Basilio asked a question to Ormoc and Paulina, "Hey, how are you two, mommy, and daddy, without me? You know, after I died…"
"At first," answered Ormoc, "mahirap, eh, mahirap na tanggapin ang nangyari sa iyo."
This was accompanied by a flashback to Ormoc and Paulina's world. A funeral for Basilio was held in a funeral home in Tacloban, Leyte, the Philippines. Almost everyone in Basilio's family and friends, as well as some acquaintances of some of them, attended it. Ormoc, Paulina, and their parents were crying hard after taking a glance at Basilio's dead body inside a wooden, white and brown casket. Some of Basilio's friends from school and church are also crying for him. Some of these people even gave short speeches about their good times with Basilio for years leading up to his death, which had happened 3 days ago.
Ormoc (narrates over): It was hard that you had died at such a young age. But I'll say that life happens, and we had no choice but to accept it as reality.
After that flashback, Basilio was stunned. "Oh…" Ormoc then nodded while feeling mildly sad and melancholic about that time, and Paulina said, "Yes, and it took a few months for us to move on from it."
"Wow…" Basilio replied back before looking down because of it.
"It must have been so hard for you two to accept what happened to Basilio-san," Artem commented to Ormoc and Paulina.
"Yes, it was so hard," replied Ormoc back.
"But we moved on 3 months after the funeral and lived life like normal again," Paulina added.
"But we didn't know that we had been summoned to this world out of nowhere to defeat some enemies of a kingdom called Pantano," Ormoc added, changing the topic fast.
"Oh, yeah, I remembered that," Basilio responded, "Cas-san told me about it. Also, what are the chances of someone who was a family member of any Otherworlder in this world to be summoned?"
Ormoc then shrugged. "Who knows? Paulina and I were lucky to be here thanks to that summoning."
"Yeah, I don't wanna know the odds of that happening."
"Well, despite what had happened between us," Ormoc said to Basilio, "we're still siblings and family no matter what happens."
"Yes." Paulina nodded with happy agreement, "and thanks to that summoning that brought me and your Kuya Ormoc into this world, we're happy to reunite with you."
Basilio was really happy to hear that and hugged them. "Salamat po sa lahat, ate, kuya!"
As Ormoc and Paulina wrapped their arms around Basilio, Chivo and the others were happy for them.
"Well, this is like a reunion beyond worlds…" Chivo commented.
"Yeah, I am inspired by this now…" one Vamzom soldier, Arnoud Seidel, responded with an awe wrapped and infused with literary inspiration, "…to write a short story based on this."
"Wha…? Right now?" Juhani looked at him.
"Yeah…I'll write a draft later…"