The Mage Emperor

--- Lien’s POV ---

Strange, I lied to him and yet he didn’t even notice. Does it mean that it’s alright if I stay here? Damn it, I’m too worried to leave it all to him, no matter what he says.

Although he told me to set up a soul wave blocking barrier and then go back to the hideout, I knew this meant that things weren’t alright. I didn’t know why he needed it, but I had a feeling that he wanted to hide, which meant that his life was in danger. I even asked if he was alright and he said that he was, but I was sure he lied.

I was hoping that I wouldn’t cause his downfall by staying here and turning into a burden for him, but I didn’t want to hide again while he was fighting to protect us, and the people in Light city. I must admit that I wasn’t happy when I realised that he wanted to fight them right away, instead of gaining a bit more power before doing something, but that was his decision and I didn’t want to tell him what to do.

I loved him so much for being so protective and considerate of me, but this time he was going overboard. Despite trying to look like a cold person from the outside towards others, he was a warm hearted person who loved helping others. I felt bad for wanting him to be like that only towards me, but those were my honest feelings. Or to be more exact, I loved that side of him and I had nothing against him helping others, I just didn’t want him to risk his life for random people. Maybe I was too selfish, but I didn’t care.

“Where are you?” I muttered to myself, not seeing him anywhere even after a few seconds passed. Just in case, I sat down on a branch and hid my presence as much as I could, though I had a feeling the Grandmasters would be able to find me anyway.

The more seconds passed, the more worried I became, and things didn’t get any better when I saw him appearing a few meters away from me, his body literally on fire. As he put out the fire with a bit of water magic, I noticed that his skin was charred black at many places, and that he was holding a woman under his left arm, while his right arm… it was missing.

He looked quite strange though, since he had feathers covering his body like in his wind form, but instead of wings, he had hands, and his feathers were made of flickering, blue bolts of lightning. Well, only patches of lightning feathers were left on him because for the most part, his skin was burned black.

Much to my happiness, he used word magic and his wounds healed in the blink of an eye, along with the woman’s. Seeing that nobody appeared even after a few seconds passed, I hopped off of the tree and made my way towards him, not understanding how he hadn’t spotted me yet.

“Seth, are you alright?” I asked, slowly walking closer and closer to him. Turning around, his eyes opened wide and then a smile spread on his face, though it quickly turned into a frown.

“Lien? Why are you here? I told you to go back!” he raised his voice.

“I’m sorry, but I was too worried and look at y-” before I could finish my sentence, he raised his hand and blew up like a balloon.

...

My body and mind frozen, I stood in place, not understanding what just happened. Raising my hand, I touched my face and felt something warm and sticky on my face.

“Seth?” I called for him, my voice shaking more than I thought it would. Maybe my words weren’t even audible and it was just me who thought I actually said something.

“Seth? Where did you go?” I asked, not wanting to believe what I saw a moment ago. My heart was beating in my ears and a kind of pain I’ve never felt before filled my chest. Lowering my head, my sight blurred out as I started crying, my mind filled with the possibility of death. Falling to my knees, I crept closer to where he was and inspected the woman who also got hurt by the explosion, hoping that I’d find some clues to his whereabouts.

I couldn’t believe that he’d die just like that. I didn’t want to. But even after seconds, I could only hold bits and pieces of the thorn clothes that remained at his place, along with a few slices of meat. My heart started beating quicker and quicker as I kept staring at a slice of meat, that terrifying possibility starting to seem more and more real in my mind.

I was about to cover my face when I noticed that slice of meat I was staring at moving. Somehow creeping closer to my hand, like a worm, it started growing, slowly turning into a hand. In a matter of few seconds, the hand turned into an arm, and then an upper body, quickly taking the shape of a complete human body in front of me.

As I raised my head and realised that it was Seth, the pain instantly went away and I inadvertently jumped towards him, not even thinking about the possibility that I could hurt him by hugging him with all my strength. Feeling him wrapping his arm around my back, gently pulling me closer, I knew I wasn’t just dreaming. As I ran my finger through his rich hair and I hugged his body, I could feel the warmth I was so familiar with.

“I’m sorry for scaring you,” he muttered, thinking about my feelings even at a time like this.

“I thought you died,” I said between my sobs as I put all my strength into my hug.

“I told you I wouldn’t die easily,” he sighed, visibly unsure of what to do with me. I thought I’d be prepared to see him in any kind of state, but that was wishful thinking of me. The moment I saw him exploding, I felt my world exploding as well.

“You should have stayed in the hideout,” he muttered as he started caressing my back and cleanessed our bodies with his magic.

Sniffing once again, I said, “Maybe, but what the hell was this?”

“There was a cumulative seal inside me, which devoured my mana and after a certain period of time, it exploded. Although I wasn’t expecting the second effect, as long as my body isn’t completely erased, I can rebuild myself. That’s why I said that you don’t have to worry about me.”

“I don’t have to worry? Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled at him as I leaned back. “If this happened in the middle of the battle, you’d have died!”

“I know, but it didn’t so stop yelling,” he muttered.

Realising that I really didn’t want to yell at him, I wiped my eyes and said, “I’m sorry, I’m just worried for you.”

Shaking his head, he said, “If you listened to me, you wouldn’t have had to see this.”

“Not seeing it wouldn’t have made things safer for you,” I grumbled. Turning to the side, I looked at the woman who was facing the ground and asked, “Who’s she?”

“Your mother,” he said bluntly. “Haha, your body twitched. Are you surprised?” he laughed while I knelt there, frozen in place once again. Raising my hand, I pinched my face, thinking that maybe this was just a dream, after all. Seeing that nothing happened and that I also felt pain, I instantly thought that maybe I was affected by some sort of mind magic and this wasn’t reality.

“Stop hurting yourself, this is real,” Seth grabbed my wrist, and then wiped my eyes with his other hand.

“Will you be alright? You won't disappear or explode again, right?” I took hold of his hands and clenched them.

“I'll be alright, don't worry, but I need to regain my mana because they could find us even like this. With over forty people, they could easily scan hundreds of kilometers and once they run into this place, we will be in trouble,” he said, urging me to stay quiet and let him meditate.

“I'd rather die with you than live without you,” I replied, hoping that he'd be more careful from now on.

“I know, dear, but I don't want you to die even if I die,” he replied.

Smacking his head, I said, “Don't say that. You can't die.”

“Yes, ma'am.”

Unable to ignore it any longer, I couldn’t help but ask, “By the way, I admit that I am a perverted girl, but how can you stand hard even in this kind of situation?” I asked with a red face, pointing downwards.

Raising his brows, he looked down, “What are you talk- oh.”

Raising his head, he looked into my eyes and said, “I swear this is a misunderstanding. Since I've rebuilt my body and I was close to death, it turned erect. It's like morning wood.”

“And how did you not notice it then?” I raised my brows in interest.

“Because it's natural. I don't really feel it in the mornings either, it just goes down at some point and that's it. Although you've been taking care of it every morning, it's not necessary, you know?” he started explaining himself.

“Hmm? Is that so? You should get dressed though, what if my mother woke up?” I asked.

“I want to, but only a little bit of mana recovered since I rebuilt my body, especially because I had to heal Lana and myself multiple times, so I can't. That's why you should let me meditate!” he poked my nose and then closed his eyes, giving to my knowledge that I was in the way.

Although I had a lot to tell my mother and I really wanted to wake her up, I knew I was a burden myself and Seth surely didn't need another person who kept asking and talking.

Sitting back on my legs, I ran my eyes over his body, inadvertently stopping at his member for a moment. I really wasn't sure whether I should believe him or not, though he seemed to be telling the truth.

Based on his words, our situation is quite dire, and he needs mana quickly. I know that doing that would recover him much quicker than meditation, but I'm really not in the mood for it after seeing something like this.

What should I do? Should I still push him down for the sake of mana recovery? But even thinking about it feels so wrong… I kept pondering in my mind as I pursed my lips. It kind of felt as if we were supposed to take off our clothes and hug each other in the cold to stay alive. It was just that the thing we were supposed to do was a step more extreme.

“Do you want me to-”

“No,” he interrupted me even before I could finish my sentence. He knew me too well… But what was I supposed to do? His safety was more important to me than my stupid emotions.

“But-”

“I told you no. You don't have to force yourself, and I'd hate myself if we did it like that.”

Hearing him putting it like that, I bit my lower lip, unsure of what to do. What if the grandmasters found us in a few minutes? He would have no way to get away and he’d need at least a day of meditation to regain all his mana.

Inching closer, I made up my mind and took hold of his member. Feeling my fingers wrapping around his thing, his eyes shot open.

“Lien?” he frowned.

A bit scared that he'd get angry with me, I pulled back my hand and looked at him apologetically. Realising that I'd rather have him hate me than see him dead, I clenched my fists and grabbed it once again.

“I can't believe you. What the hell are you doing?” he asked, grabbing my wrist.

“You can hate me, but I won't let you die. You need your mana as quickly as possible, and as one of the gods of sex, you'd regain most of it in a few minutes, or am I wrong?” I raised my brows.

“That's true but-”

“Then shut up and let me help you. It's a shame that that's all I'm good for right now, but that's how things are. People aren't born equal and I'm clearly beneath many in power, so let me do at least this much. I feel bad enough already for being useless, you know?” I intentionally put my words in a way that made him more conforming.

Averting his eyes, he said, “Do what you want, but know that I'd never hate you. I simply don't want you to force something like this because it'd make me feel terrible.”

“You don't have to,” I said as I inched closer to him. Reaching down, I tore my leggings and then pulled my panties to the side. Raising my head, I looked into his eyes and smiled at him as I slowly lowered my body and sat on him.

“I blew up, got on fire, and lost my arm today, but this smile hurts more than anything,” he said as he put his hands on my hips.

Leaning closer, I kissed him on the lips and then whispered into his ear, “Don’t worry about it, it still feels good.”

“I guess that makes me feel a little better,” he muttered.

---

We finished in a few minutes, but the weirdest of all was that my mother was lying on the ground only a meter away from us, unconscious. I’ve never ever felt so ashamed of myself like this time, and this was probably the worst day of our relationship. With his mana renewed, Seth quickly made a few clothes out of air and then repaired my leggings as well. Clearing his throat, he turned around and crept closer to my mother.

“Seth, you don’t have to worry about a thing, okay?” I said, knowing that he was still thinking about it.

“Please, don’t pretend that you were alright with this,” he replied, placing his hand on my mother’s belly.

Lowering my head, I moved closer to him and tried to think of a way to stop him from thinking about it, but nothing came to mind. Realising that I shouldn’t bother him with stuff like this at a time like this, I silently looked over my mother. When I recalled my image of her from my childhood, I noticed that she clearly turned skinnier in comparison.

Her skin was still smooth and her hair silky, but the skin around her eyes turned a little wrinkly, implying that she cried a lot. I was really happy to see her, but what made me even more excited was the face my father would make if he was to see her. Leaning closer, I put my arm around Seth’s waist and said, “Thank you for saving her.”

“Don’t be so sure of it yet. I want to help her, but her soul is being tracked by Thanatos and unless I can remove the seal, we can’t leave this barrier without being found out,” he replied.

“I’m sorry for bothering you and being so clingy, but seeing you almost dying terrified me, and I can’t help it,” I apologised, quite sure that I was getting on his nerves.

“Don’t be silly. You can hug me all you want, just let me focus on this seal in the meantime,” he smiled at me and then turned back towards my mother. Curious about the seal, I also put my hand on her belly and tried to sense where Seth’s mana was flowing. Although normally it’d be impossible for me to sense his magic, I was his apostle and he left all kinds of connections opened. Much to my surprise, my mana turned strong enough over the month and I was able to sense bits and pieces of the seal.

Like fruit peelings, he removed one layer after the other until the seal entirely disappeared. I was about to ask him to wake her up when I heard a strange sound which was like a mirror breaking.

“What was-” I wanted to ask, but I felt the contents of my stomach rushing up my throat all of a sudden, which prompted me to cover my mouth.

Realising that Seth was holding me and that we were flying, I looked around in confusion. He moved so quickly that I didn't even understand what just happened, and here I was happy that I my hard work was starting to bear fruits…

Seeing him carrying my mother under his other arm like a bag of shit, I kind of felt like complaining, but I knew I had no room to say anything about it.

“Was that Thanatos?” I asked him through Link.

“No, just a servant but a moment and he'd have appeared as well,” he replied. After flying for a few seconds, he suddenly turned around and wrote the ‘move’ word in the air, taking us straight to the hideout where our parents were.

“Seth?” noticing her son, Anna jumped up from the sofa and ran towards him.

Before anyone could say or do anything, he knocked out everyone with his soul force and then brought their bodies into one pile. Raising them up with telekinesis, he asked, “Are you ready to leave?”

“Huh? Where are we going?” I asked, still confused by all these sudden changes of locations. I was starting to lose track of what was happening.

“Wait, and did you just knock out your mother?” I raised my brows.

“Well, things will be easier this way,” he shrugged.

“…”

Clearing his throat, he answered my first question, “Anyway, I don’t know yet. I’ll take you all somewhere safe and deal with Thanatos afterward. The sad truth is that I’m not strong enough to deal with so many of them, and even if I could remove his seal for the second time, I wouldn’t be able to kill the strong ones. I’ll have to use my head if I want to take care of them, which is going to take time. If I can find a few people who’re willing to help, that would be even better,” he explained.

“I admit that hearing this makes me happy,” I said.

“Why? Things went quite smoothly.”

“Yeah? You almost died you moron,” I shook my head. I really felt like smacking him seeing how easily he took it.

“Haha, I know, I know, I was just kidding. It’s a good thing that Thanatos underestimated you and watched out only for me. Your soul may be weak compared to them, but the spells I taught you are way above your level. Even the barrier you set up was perfect, so once I strengthened it, his soul force couldn’t return to him when it came in contact with the seal on Lana,” he said, laughing at the whole thing. I was glad to see that he was in a better mood, but he was still way too carefree considering that he almost died.

“I don’t like this,” I said with a frown.

“Hmm? What do you mean?” he raised his brows, clearly confused.

“It’s quite sad that you don’t know the answer. I don’t like that you don’t care about your life. Do you want me to live my life as a widow? It seems I’ll have to make a vow that if you die, I’m also going to take my own life. How’s that? Do you feel more motivated to live now?” I asked, getting more and more displeased seeing his behaviour.

Sadly, I had to talk in a selfish way since this block head wouldn’t bother with stuff like ‘why are you so carefree’ and stuff like that. But he said that I was his weak point, so my only chance was to blackmail him with my life. Most of the time it was more important to him what I wanted than what he wanted anyway.

“Are you blackmailing me?” he raised a brow.

“Yes,” I nodded.

“What kind of wife would do that?”

“I think all,” I replied, crossing my arms in front of my chest. Starting a staring contest, he kept staring at me, his eyes unblinking.

“I’m not suicidal, you know?” he finally blinked, giving in to me. “Also, it’s not like I’d want to give up on you and leave you here, I was simply trying to ease the mood between us after” - he paused for a moment before repeating his last word and continuing - “after what happened.”

Raising a brow, I asked, “Why does it hurt you so much?”

“Haah, isn’t it obvious?” he sighed. “It feels as if I used you like a tool, and I was the one who hurt you, which is something I really don’t want to do,” he shook his head.

“Then let me tell you something. You’re simply overthinking it. I admit that I wasn’t in the mood for it and we did it for the sake of survival, but it felt good anyway, and I’m not bothered by it. I’ve told you already, I love you from the bottom of my heart, and that’s not going to change because of some small hurdle like this. If you need some space or time, just tell me, I won’t be angry, but you don’t have to worry about me,” I told him my honest feelings.

“Honestly, you should care about yourself instead of me. Aren’t you feeling down because it was you who were hurt?” I raised my brows.

Since I was his ‘apostle’, he surely knew that I wasn’t lying, even without using magic. Seeing him standing there helplessly, not knowing how to respond, I stepped closer and hugged him as I said, “Come here, you big cry baby.”

“I’m not a cry baby,” he murmured as he also put his arms around me.

“Oh, you are,” I chuckled, rubbing my head against his chest. Feeling his arms around me, I could feel my heart warming up as usual. It felt so nice when he cuddled me, I could never get enough of it.

“Maybe you were right,” he muttered.

“And what can I do to make you feel better?” I asked.

“I don’t know, how about you choose a climate where you want to go instead?” he raised  his brows.

After thinking about my options for a few seconds, I said, “To be honest, I’ve had enough of seeing trees, so if you know of a place without trees, then feel free to take us there. I don’t care even if it’s a desert or a barren land, I just want a change of scenery.”

“Is it okay even if it’s a cold place?”

“Will you heat me up if I feel cold?” I asked playfully. Although I was a little afraid that he’d feel down again, I believed that he wouldn’t keep moping.

Grabbing my shoulders, he smirked, “You bet.”

Smiling at him, I said, “Then it’s fine.”

Nodding his head, he moved our parents closer with telekinesis and then wrote the move word in the air and took all of us to a different place. The surrounding area was covered in snow, which I haven’t seen often in Balan. In fact, I’ve seen natural snow only three times in my life, the rest was created using magic.

It was also snowing and the wind was blowing like crazy outside. The sad truth was that my clothes were too thin for this kind of weather, so I couldn’t help but inch a bit closer to Seth.

“What is this place? Is this the fucking North Pole?” I shouted, barely hearing anything from the strong wind.

Quickly erecting a wind barrier around us, he said, “No, this is still the same continent, we’re just a bit more to the North.”

“I-Ist that sho?” I couldn’t help but start shaking as the cold started penetrating my body. Since I didn’t want to freeze to death, I mixed in some fire magic with his wind barrier and warmed up the surrounding area. Feeling the warm air, a shudder ran through my body.

“Haah, it’s so much better. By the way, didn’t you say that it was very dangerous to teleport while touching things and that taking too many people was impossible?”

“Did I say that?” he raised a brow as he looked at me and put his arm around my waist.

“Well, something like that,” I nodded, suddenly doubting my memories.

“Hmm- Oh! I get it now. I said that because during normal teleportation, which is when you’re teleporting by yourself, you don’t have to handle anything. Let’s say that your subconscious is like a processor in computers. You’re using your computer, your brain, but you don’t see the processes that are going on in the background, your subconscious.”

“The stronger you become, the higher the processing capability of your subconscious becomes. During teleportation, your body is decomposed to cellular level and is rebuilt in a different location from your mana. By the way, it’s dangerous to teleport to places where mana is scarce because you may lose a limb or two.”

“That doesn’t sound like fun,” I frowned.

“You bet,” he laughed.

“And? Is it only because you’re strong enough to take five people with you?” I tilted my head to the side, waiting for the continuation.

“No, taking so many people would require twice my strength. You see, taking one person with you, which is usually you, isn’t hard at all. But the more you take, the harder it becomes. I suppose our ancestors could do that with ease, but I haven’t lived long enough to grow so strong. That’s why I used WORD magic.”

“I’m not teleporting with WORD magic, I simply create a shield in front of us and then move at the speed of light to another location. If you were strong enough to perceive light, you could probably catch me while I’m moving. I just applied it to the five of you as well,” he said as he wrapped an earth shield around our parents.

“That makes sense,” I nodded. “By the way, for how long do you plan on keeping them unconscious? Also, don’t you feel sorry for your parents for carrying them like that?” I pointed towards the earth ball which also got on fire.

“This will keep their bodies warm, don’t worry, I’m controlling the heat. And I want-”

Raising my hand, I stopped him, “That’s not what I meant. I mean that you’re basically placing them on top of each other and are handling them like puppets.”

“Oh. You have a point, I don’t have to run anymore,” he said as he turned towards the earth ball with wide opened eyes.

“...”

“Sorry?” he shrugged.

Rolling my eyes, I said, “It doesn’t matter at this point, I just find it morally wrong.”

Pursing his lips, he kept looking at me, unsure of what to say. I really didn’t say it to make him feel bad or something like that, and knowing that he’d end up doing just that if I kept quiet, I said in a hurry, “Whatever, could you lead the way? Or do you want to build a house here?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I simply moved towards the north in a random direction and made it so that we’d stop if the temperature dropped below minus thirty celsius degree. Although my original plan was to build a house, like you said, I can sense a few thousand people in front of us. It must be something like a small city, though it’s still about fifty kilometers away.”

“Is that so?” I raised a brow in interest.

“Yeah. Are you interested?” he asked as he picked me up.

“I am,” I replied, a little surprised. For some reason he seemed to be happy when he carried me, and I sort of enjoyed it so I didn’t say anything. It just felt nice, like really.

“You’re so cute,” he said as he flew up.

“Okay? That came out of nowhere,” I said, throwing my right arm around his neck.

“I know, but I felt like saying it,” he nodded.

“Uh, the cringe,” I shuddered. “Anyway, there is something more important than deciding whether I’m cute or not. I may be a little a late, but I didn’t want to do it right after you took us to the hideout.”

Looking straight into his eyes, I said with all seriousness, “What I’ve been wanting to tell you is that I thank you. I thank you for saving my mother, and I really thank you for protecting my useless ass from those people.”

“Oh, come on. You’re my wife. It’s only natural that I’d do my best to save your family as well. I mean, your family is my family too, or am I wrong?” he raised his brows.

“No, you aren’t, but you took a huge risk by trying to save my mother, and I can’t thank you enough for that. I just wanted to thank you seriously,” I said.

“Well, I don’t know what to say. No problem, I guess,” he muttered, a small smile forming on his face. It was nice to see that my words made him happy, but I didn’t know how to thank him better.

“You don’t have to say anything. Rather, what would make you happy? It’s not that I don’t have ideas, but you have everything I can think of, so I can’t think of a good way to reward you.”

“Reward? Why’d I need that? And just like you said, I don’t need anything in particular so you really don’t have to worry about it. I suppose your offer didn’t expire, right?” he asked.

“Offer? What kind of offer?” I frowned, a little confused.

“When I left… you said you’d,” he kept lowering his voice until I couldn’t understand his words.

“Oh, that…” I muttered, remembering that I promised him that I’d dress up in anything he gave me. “Okay,” I said in a small voice.

Looking into my eyes, he started another staring contest, but this time he didn’t look away even after like half a minute. Starting to feel embarrassed from his intent staring, I averted my eyes and pushed my face against his chest to hide my face.

“AAH! I can’t fucking decide!” he cried out all of a sudden. “You could dress up as a sexy teacher. Wait, no, maybe nurse? Maid? There is the naked apron too. Cat girl? Which one do you like the most?” he started brainstorming. Maybe I’d have been better off not hearing anything.

“Erm, how about you slow the fuck down and pick one? It's not like it matters to me what I'm wearing or not wearing during it, so I'm willing to wear anything you make, ok? Just don't make me wear everything in a single night…” I tried calming him.

“That's nice to hear, but I still don't know which one to pick first,” he replied.

“I'm sure I've welcomed you in naked apron in the past, so that should be crossed out. Although I called you master during the trial, I had no maid clothes, so I don't know about that. Teacher… I can guess what would you make me wear and it wouldn't be anything too special. Nurse is a similar case, so either a cat girl or maid, though I don't get what makes you guys so excited about these,” I shook my head.

“Because you're a woman,” he cut in.

“Actually, I was just kidding…” I finished my sentence.

“Oh. Never mind then,” he muttered.

“Did you forget the environment I grew up in? I know exactly what excites most guys’ fantasies and why. That's why I can always seduce you with a nice pose or a simple movement,” I stuck out my tongue.

“Heh, Miss Succubus.”

“Please, that's not even true. I'm not sucking away your life force and I've got laid only by you. If I was a succubus, I'd have gone through every male in Balan by now.”

“Well, I can't say you couldn't have done that with your looks,” he laughed.

“Aw, but don't worry, I'll be your faithful little succubus,” I leaned closer and gave a kiss on his face.

“I can't believe you kept flirting with me until I forgot all about what happened between us today,” he shook his head. “It feels like a distant memory…”

“Well, I'm glad I could talk it out of you,” I said.

Suddenly stopping, he said, “This is the place.” Turning to the side, I could see a smaller city in place with thousands of wooden houses. Smoke was coming out through the chimneys, slightly warming up the whole place. The sky was quite dark thanks to the thick clouds, so the lights were also lit up in most of the houses.

“This place looks really nice,” I said, feeling a little excited to have a closer look.

“I think so,” he nodded and then flew closer to the city, landing in front of a larger house.

“Put me down,” I urged him.

“Ah, sorry, I kind of forgot,” he laughed as he put me down.

“There are nineteen people in this building, right? Do you think that it's a family?” I asked after a quick scan of the area.

“No… unless even their grandchildren live here with their own family,” he frowned.

“What if families are larger than in Balan?” I asked.

“What does it matter? We can still ask them,” he rolled his eyes and then knocked on the door.

“Haha, I know, I was just trolling you.”

A few seconds later I heard footsteps nearing the door, and a moment later a boy around the age of ten opened it. Looking back and forth between me and Seth with his big eyes, he asked, “Why are you knocking?”

“We aren’t from around, we’re coming from a far away place,” I replied. Hearing my answer, his eyes opened wide and then he turned around and ran away. Peering in through the opened door, I could see a few tables inside and a small bar on the other side of the room. There were only four people inside, and one of those was the boy, while another man was standing behind the bar. The remaining two people were sitting at a table and were eating a head-sized hamburger.

I couldn’t help but get a little hungry seeing their food and I quickly decided that I’d get my hand on a hamburger. Of course, I wouldn’t rob this place or force anyone to make one for me. That’s what I wanted to believe but it was hard to stop when I was hungry and I had power. I’d pay it back with interest later!

The boy was pointing towards the door and was whispering about us to the man, “Father! Look, there are people coming from the wild!”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Jeremy. How could there be life out there when it’s hard enough here,” he reprimanded him, and then raised his head. Noticing us standing in the door, he slightly frowned as he asked, “Why are you stuffing his head with fairy tales?”

Looking at each other with Seth, we shrugged our shoulders and then entered the bar. Hearing the man’s question, the couple also glanced at us strangely before continuing with their meal.

Stopping in front of the man, Seth put his hands on the bar and said, “My wife was telling the truth. My wife said that we were coming from a far away place, so I don’t know how are we stuffing his head with fairy tales..”

“Is that so?” he asked, and then looked at Jeremy with a frown. Knowing that he’d get in trouble, he turned around and quickly ran away.

“Haah- I’m sorry about suspecting you, though you’re certainly dressed lightly for this climate. How did you not freeze to the death while you got here?” he asked.

“How, you ask. I obviously used fire magic,” Seth replied.

“Seth. I think that in a cold place like this, they’ve never met the fire element, which means that people shouldn’t be able to use it. We can create fire from our own mana, but how could they do that if they’ve never met it?” I remarked through Link. Even the radiators were electric, which meant that everyone used the lightning element to keep their homes warm.

“You have a point,” he said as he made a ball of fire appear in his palm.

Maybe a little scared by the fire, the man took a step back. Seeing that Seth wasn’t doing anything with the fire, his curiosity got the better of him and he slowly stepped closer, “How can you create fire? We believed that it was impossible to do in this cold!”

“It’s probably because you’ve never sensed the fire element. By the way, could you tell us about this place? And what can I do that’d prompt you to give me food?” I asked.

“Are you hungry?” Seth raised his brows as he looked at me.

“I am. I haven’t had breakfast and then you left me in the hideout and it’s almost noon,” I nodded.

Clearing his throat, the man answered my question, “I can give you food if you have money. Regarding the information about this place, well, what should I tell you?”

“Anything about this place. Is this a city? A kingdom?” I asked.

“This is the kingdom of Helvaria, and our queen is Skadi, the Frost Queen. This is the southernmost city of Helvaria and anything beyond this city is a wasteland until you reach the wild. Of course, none of us would go towards the south since this cold land is the safest place we know of. That’s all I can tell you.”

“Thank you, that’s more than enough,” I smiled at him and then asked, “How can I earn money here or what kind of money do you use?”

Raising a brow, he opened the cash desk and raised a banknote into the air which had a woman’s picture on it. Of course, it had to be a different kind of money than what we had…

“I’m not sure how you lived up till now, but you can earn money by working or selling the bodies of monsters to the Frost Shield company. They’re the ones who dismantle the corpses and then make something useful out of them,” he said.

“And if I told you that I’d pay you back with interest if you gave me food right now, would you do it?” I tried my luck.

“I’m not going to give you food for free. Killing mammoths and frost giants is dangerous. What if you died?” he asked

Rolling my eyes, I said, “I don’t think a hamburger would cause your downfall, but so be it. Where are these creatures and where is this Frost Shield company? Also, do they need the bodies in one piece and do I get more money if their bodies are left intact?”

“Pfft,” Seth was trying to hold back his laughter, though I didn’t get what was so funny.

“Stop laughing,” I elbowed him.

“Haha, but it’s kind of fun to see your doing your best for food. I’d like to help you, but I’ve got to take care of something while you’re out hunting. In case you still get in trouble, feel free to contact me and I’ll come flying to you,” he said as he started writing the move word in the air.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’ve got to move Dixon and Damon before Thanatos captures them. I’ll be back in a few minutes, at most,” he said and then activated his magic. Seeing him disappearing without any trace, the man jumped back in his surprise and ducked under the bar.

“You don’t have to worry about him. My husband wouldn’t hurt innocent people like you. So? Where is this Frost Shield?” I leaned over the bar, my stomach growling in the meantime.

“Uhm, it’s in the northern area of the city and there is a big blue shield on the building, so you should be able to find it,” he replied, seemingly a little afraid of me.

“Then please make a hamburger for me while I’m gone. Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon,” I said.

“Ah, okay,” he muttered, slowly standing up.

Nodding my head, I turned around and left the building. If Seth left me here so easily, the monsters definitely weren’t too much of a threat. Well, it’d be a shame if I couldn’t get rid of mere monsters after more than a month of training with his guidance. Seeing the earth ball left on the street, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

Great, I guess it’ll be good practise for me… it won't be easy to carry the corpses, kill monsters, and watch out for this ball as well until Seth returned. I don't want our parents to freeze to the death. Should I wait for him instead? No, of he left me here, he's probably expecting that I'd to out to hunt.

After coming to the conclusion that I had to do all of these by myself and that I wasn't supposed to wait for my husband, I scanned the nearby area. I used both my soul force and my mana, and I was a little surprised when I realised how far they reached. A month ago I was happy if I could scan my surroundings in an area of five kilometers, while I could sense everything within fifty kilometers this time. The difference was incredible, and it was mostly thanks to our night activities. It really stung that no matter what I did, Seth's commandment beat hard work and went beyond my imagination every time.

Feeling a little dejected, I made my way towards the nearest presence I found. Although I asked too many questions at once and Dawud kind of forgot to answer some of them, I decided that I'd try to do as little damage to the monsters’ bodies as I could. With my increased flight speed, I reached my destination in just a few minutes, which one again surprised me since a week ago it'd have taken me at least forty minutes.

The first presence I found was a white coloured treant, which probably wasn’t worth anything but I still went ahead and took it down with a single spell. I just cut off its head and destroyed its core, so the rest of its body was left intact. Lifting it up with telekinesis, I continued on my way and killed a few more monsters. I also found a mammoth on the way, which was somewhere at the level of SS ranked monsters.

It was quite strong, but it was no threat to me at this point. After collecting its body, I went back to the city and looked for the sign that the bartender mentioned. It was quite annoying that I had to use my mana continuously to keep myself warm, but there was no other way around it. Since Seth also left the earth ball to me, I had to take care of it and keep our parents’ bodies warm.

It was a really disrespectful way of carrying them, but I also felt that it’d be too much of a hassle to wake them up and then explain everything to everyone and do what we had to only then. Even though I really wanted to talk to my mother, I didn't want to wake her up until we had a roof above our heads and had some fresh food. I understood why he handled them like this, but it still made me feel terrible. Even more so because I felt the same way about it.

Right when I found the building the bartender mentioned, Seth appeared next to me with Dixon and Damon by his side.

“Hello,” I greeted the two of them and then told Seth to take over the earth ball while I was doing business.

“I’ll wait for you here then,” he replied with a nod.

Since the Frost Shield had a large backyard with a giant gate, I assumed I was supposed to take the monsters’ bodies there. I didn’t want to accidentally offend some kind of authorities, so I landed in front of the gate. I also found a bell, so I pressed it instantly, hoping that someone would answer. It helped a lot that the barrier around the city prevented the snow and the wind from entering, else it’d have been quite hard to see.

About half a minute later, a man dressed in a thick fur coat came out through a smaller street door and after sizing me up and the monsters behind me, he said, “Welcome. Are you here to sell these monsters?”

“Yes,” I nodded.

“Then please come inside. Did you drag them here or what?” he couldn’t help but ask. Smiling at him, I lifted up their bodies with telekinesis and then moved them over the gate.

“That’s a very useful skill,” he forced a smile on his face, saying no more.

“I think so,” I smiled back, happy to see some people who weren’t damned god incarnations with the power to level cities. It was sort of annoying to live in an environment where everyone was stronger than you despite all your hard work. That was how I felt in Light city, even though I haven’t spent much time there. Maybe I’d have come to accept it if I spent more time there, but that was unlikely to happen given our current circumstances.

“You seem to be awfully happy for some reason,” Seth remarked through Link.

“Have you read my chemical levels? Whatever… I am because it feels nice to make someone amazed,” I replied.

“What? You can surprise and amaze me anytime,” he said.

“Yeah, as if that was the same. Your emotions lack that pure, real sense of amazement and surprise that normal people show at times like these. The best I can surprise you with is my progression or some sexy cosplay in the bed,” I remarked, almost rolling my eyes as well.

“Well, that makes sense,” he muttered and then turned silent. In the meantime, we entered the backyard and the man also carefully walked around the corpses and inspected them closely.

“Miss must be very powerful. I rarely see corpses left in one piece, much less with so little damage to their bodies,” he said.

“How much can you offer for them?” I raised my brows. For a business like this, it definitely mattered how we dealt with the monsters. There was no way the corpse of a monster which was a pile of limbs and broken bones would be worth as much as the corpses I brought in.

Making a thoughtful face, he replied, “Five hundred skaals, at most.”

Now I know what their money is called. Yay! Let’s earn more of it…

“Five hundred?” I raised my brows. “I guess I’m going to take it to somewhere else,” I added as I lifted up the corpses.

“Wait, no, no! I’ll give you more!” he waved his hands in a panicked way.

“How much then?”

“Six hundred, but that’s really all I can give you!” he cleared his throat, quickly regaining his composure.

“Six hundred and twenty, and I may bring you more corpses like these,” I smiled at him. Hearing my offer, his eyes lit up instantly and he nodded his head.

“Good! Six hundred and twenty skaals, and you bring me more corpses like these!” he held out his hand.

Shaking it, I said, “Deal.”

After paying me out, I helped him carrying the corpses into the building and then flew up to Seth who had been waiting right above us all along. Since the bank notes were marked with numbers, I knew that I wasn’t scammed, though I had no idea how much money I earned. I was kind of hoping that it was a lot, but when I got back to the bar, I realised it wasn’t.

“I’ve returned! So? How much for that hamburger?” I asked.

“Fifty skaals,” he replied as he put a head-sized hamburger on the bar. His son was nowhere to be seen this time, though I could sense that he was on one of the upper floors.

“Can we sleep here as well?” Seth asked while I pulled the hamburger closer.

“Yes, that’d be fifty skaals a night, per person. Also, please do something with that giant earth ball outside,” he pointed towards the ball in front of the window. Considering the environment, I wasn’t surprised by the prices. They probably had a lot of space so the stay wasn’t expensive but food was.

“We need three rooms for eight people, three with one bed, and one with two beds. Small rooms are perfectly fine. Also, how much would it cost to prepare food for this many people?” Seth asked while I sat down at the nearest table and started eating.

“That’d cost… five hundred and seventy skaals, unless everyone wants to eat today's speciality,” he pointed at the hamburger that I started eating.

Showing him my thumb, I said, “It’s great!”

“I’m glad you like it,” he smiled at me while Seth just chuckled.

After counting the money, I moved it in front of him with telekinesis and put it on the bar. Surprised by my ‘skill’, his eyes opened wide just like the man’s who bought the monster corpses.

“I think I understand what you were talking about. You really can’t surprise me in that way,” Seth remarked in my mind, seeing the man’s expression.

“Three.. four… five hundred and…” the man kept muttering as he counted the money and the looked at up with a smile, “Alright.”

“By the way, my name is Seth and she’s my wife, Lien. These two silent ones are Dixon and Damon, and…” he stopped for a moment and broke the earth ball into pieces, revealing the bodies of our parents. Opening the door with magic, he moved them into the building and quickly introduced them, scaring the bartender once again.

“What the hell are you doing with these people?” he asked with a frown.

“It’s a long story, but don’t worry, they’re fine and are going to regain their consciousness in a few minutes,” Seth waved his hand, unwilling to tell him our tale. Well, it was none of his business.

He was probably too scared or weirded out to continue questioning Seth, so he simply ignored it, “If you say so. Just don’t cause trouble for me.”

“Don’t worry, we have no such intentions,” Seth replied.

Nodding his head, the man fetched four keys and said as he put them in front of Seth, “My name is Dawud, and these are the keys to your rooms. It’s on the second floor, the last four rooms. The food will be ready in an hour.”

“That’s fine,” Seth nodded and then looked at me. Remembering that I’d finally get to talk to my mother, I jumped up from my seat in my excitement, taking my food with me.

“Well, I’ve got to leave for a moment,” Dawud said, and then made his way towards the room behind the bar. I could sense someone else there, so he probably went to contact the chef.

“Shall we wake up the sleeping princesses?” Seth asked playfully.

“Yes!” I nodded, pushing him towards the stairs.

“I’m so going to be reprimanded for doing this to them…” Seth shook his head as he started following me. “I put them to sleep yesterday night and then carried them around half the world. Now it’s thirteen hours later, and I’m finally going to wake them up. Do you think they’ll be happy when I tell them what happened?”

“If that makes you happier, the same fate is waiting for me,” I replied, my excitement quickly leaving my body.

“That doesn’t make me happier, but the good side of things is that once your parents wake up, they’ll be busy looking at each other with surprised faces, which means that nobody is going to start a fight in the meantime,” he said. “Anyway, I’m quite interested in Lana.”

“What do you mean? Do you want something from my mother?” I asked, a little confused.

“Oh, I just meant that despite meeting her in the past, I don’t really know or remember her,” he replied as he walked past me and unlocked the door. Throwing one of the keys towards Damon, he said, “You two get in the next room and wait. You can do anything in the meantime, just don’t go too far away.”

“Alright,” both of them nodded and then followed Seth’s commands.

“Did something happen? Why are they so silent now? Last time Damon was more talkative,” I couldn’t help but ask, staring at their closed door.

“I’m not sure. Although they would have been killed if Thanatos and co. weren’t trying to find me even after ten minutes passed, they shouldn’t know that. Maybe it’s because they know that I’m their only chance to survive and want to please me by talking only when I asked them. I can’t think of anything else,” he replied as he opened the door and got in.

Picking up where he left off, I went after him and said, “By the way, things aren’t looking too good for me either because I don’t know if what I know about Mother is still true. She could have turned into an entirely different person in Light city, you know?”

“Yeah, but she definitely loves you,” he smiled at me as he put our parents on the beds.

“Thanks,” I muttered, feeling a little better. Hearing my ‘thanks’, he just shook his head helplessly and then used his magic to wake them up. Just like he requested, this room had two beds and a small bathroom was connected to it. Of course, there was no kitchen since most of Dawud’s income probably came from selling food. It was a fancy little room, though there was nothing special to it.

Slightly groaning, all of them caught to their heads and sat up. It looked like a well-organised performance since everyone was doing the exact same thing and in the same order… Still following the schema, they opened their eyes and looked around in the room. Seth intentionally put my mother on the rightmost bed, so that we’d see their reactions.

As my mother raised her head and noticed me, she covered her mouth and started crying. Placing her hand on my face, her voice shook as she asked, “Lien, my daughter?”

“Yes, it’s me,” I replied as I put my arms around her back and hugged her tightly. I could feel her head moving towards Seth and a moment later she said, “I thank you.”

“It was nothing,” he muttered.

Gently pushing me back, she took a closer look at me and started smiling, “My daughter, I can’t believe that I can see you again. You’ve grown so big.”

I always thought that my mother died and that my only blood-related family was my father, but now here I was hugging my mother. Through her embrace, I could feel the pure love that she felt towards me, the kind that only a mother could make you feel. I loved my father, but he was still a man and he simply couldn’t make me feel the way my mother did. Nonetheless, it wasn’t any weaker, it was just different a different kind of love.

Pulling my head against her shoulder, she started kissing the back of my head, slowly rocking me as if she was trying to make me fall asleep. As I ran my fingers down on her sides, I also scanned her body with my mana and carefully examined her. She was a bit underweight so she probably haven’t had much to eat, which made me really sad. I didn’t know what kind of life she lived in Light city, but I hoped that I could make it better for her from now on.

But to do that, I had to become stronger and erase the threat Thanatos posed. Sadly, it’d take me years to reach his level, so my only option was to rely on my husband. Quickly shaking the worrying things out of my head, I focused back on the now and raised my head. My father was staring intently at the back of my mother, his eyes and mouth opened wide and his hand slightly raised.

“Mother, you should see someone else,” I said as I gently pushed her back and smiled at my father. Seeing me staring at ‘something’ behind her, she turned around on the bed.

“Michael?” she covered her mouth, her tears starting to flow even more. Hearing her voice, my father instantly shot towards her like a bullet and hugged her tightly. Although I wanted to move out of the way to let them have their sweet reunion, they grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into their embrace before I could get away.

“Wha-  let me go!” I tried to escape from their squeeze.

“Stop squirming, I haven’t seen you for over five years!” my mother said, making me accept my fate. My face was squeezed between their chests and I was stuck in a half-sitting and half-turned position. Seeing that Seth was trying to hold back his laughter, I closed my eyes and slumped down, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to escape.

“How can you be here? I thought that you… that you died,” my father asked. Following his question, my mother explained how she was saved by Thanatos and lived her life in Light city. Confused by her tale, I was about to ask Seth about Thanatos when my mother continued and finished the tale with the actual truth.

I couldn’t believe my ears when I heard what he did just to get people to go to Light city. He probably did this to thousands of people over the many years Light city had been around. He really had to be removed else who knew how many people’s lives would end up in a tragedy?

Hearing her explanation of how Seth saved her, I felt even more grateful for him, though I knew that something was off. He wouldn’t have knocked her out if everything went as she said. It’d have been much easier to carry her around if she was conscious, so she must have done something that forced Seth to knock her out. After asking him about it, he told me the truth, but he also told me to stay quiet about it.

My mother basically tried to kill him and she didn’t even remember it. I understood why he didn’t want to tell it to her, and it was a really nice gesture from him. Regardless, I kept my mouth shut and felt really lucky that I had a husband like him.

Raising his head, my father looked at Seth and said, “I don’t know how to thank you for all you’ve done.”

Unsure of how to respond, Seth looked at me with hopeful eyes, waiting for my help. “See? Your daughter has got a great taste,” I chimed in playfully, drawing my parents’ attention towards me.

“Haha, I can’t argue with that,” my father said.

“By the way, what was your commandment again? Thanatos mentioned that you were the god of…” Mother thought aloud, suddenly turning silent when she was about to say the embarrassing part. I could relate with Seth. Thinking back to the time when he told me his secret, it must have been really hard to stand out in front of a me and say that he was the god of sex, especially because we lost our virginity the day before that. I even laughed at him.

Forcing a smile on his face, he kept silent. His commandment was an undeniable proof of his pervertedness, even if he was the most loyal guy I’ve ever met. Like, he wouldn’t cheat on me even if I was out somewhere and he could get away without me finding out, and a beautiful woman was trying to push him down. Nonetheless, he was still a pervert, and everyone knew about it in the family.

I had it easier… I didn’t have to withstand the looks our parents gave him every time. Well, Anna was quite playful in that regard and took things lightly, but still, I didn’t want to be found out. Like when we were heard and she made a remark on it, or when I was about to get into Seth’s room at night and she caught me standing in front of his door. Those moments would have been much cringier if she took things more seriously.

I liked my mother-in-law. She was the saviour of the embarrassing moments, like this one. Seeing her son in trouble, she came flying to help him out and said laughing, “Well, well, Lana. You don’t have to worry about it since I spared no effort to raise and turn him into a fine man. At least, you don’t have to worry about that going wrong between them,” she winked at her.

Covering his face, Seth said, “Can I just leave this room?”

“I’m sorry for bringing it up, it’s just that my memory is a little hazy and I don’t remember clearly what happened,” my mother apologised.

“No, it’s fine,” he waved his hand. Nodding her head, my mother finally let go of me, followed by my father.

Using that moment, I stood up from the bed and straightened my body, “Uh, I was starting to feel sore all over.”

“Well, now that everything has been clarified, let me apologise for knocking you all out and carrying you around like kites, but that was the quickest and most secure way of transportation. It also made the last few hours easier since you didn’t have to worry about losing each other right after meeting and I also had to protect only one person. Regarding the future, I have yet to finish Thanatos and free the people in those damned cities, so please be careful.”

“I can’t say I’m happy about it, but I understand it so don’t worry about it,” my father said, adding, “And really, I don’t care what you had to do to me if it meant that Lana could return.”

“I’d like to complain, but I think I’ll just drop the matter,” Anna humphed as she crossed her arms.

“Are you serious?” Seth raised his brows.

“Yes, though I may bring it up in the future, along with the ‘why are you so reckless’ conversation,” she nodded, hinting that we weren’t done yet.

“...”

“She’s not going to let you off,” I said through Link.

“Yeah,” he hung his head.

“And what about Thanatos? I don’t think he would let us off that easily,” my mother said. She must have been worried after experiencing Thanatos’ power first-hand, but now that Seth brought us here, I knew we were much safer.

“I plan to stay here for the time being and set up some sort of base where you can live in peace. I don’t want to sound too dark, but the next few weeks or even months will be dangerous and a little hard. I mean, you won’t be able to do your daily routine and will have to adapt to the lifestyle people have here. Of course, I think I’d be the happiest if you stayed at the base I’m going to build and simply had fun, chat, and stuff like that.”

“I know that’s unlikely to happen since you’d get bored of doing nothing, so you can work in the city if you want to, but you don’t have to. Lien will take care of money problems and stuff while I gather more information and plan ahead.”

“Please, we are the adults here, even if we’re weaker than you two. We will take care of ourselves,” Anna said proudly.

“Dear, I agree with you but I think that you should be more considerate,” Peter remarked. I was also hoping that she didn’t want to charge out to work when we barely knew anything about this place.

“I know, but once things come clean, I think that we should take care of ourselves,” she clarified herself.

“Well, I’m fine with that,” he nodded.

Seeing that they were behaving as predicted, Seth just shrugged his shoulders and asked, “Now that I’ve clarified your situation, is anyone hungry? The food should be ready in about half an hour. We could catch up on life events in the meantime.”

“Oh, that’d be nice. I probably missed out on many things, especially your marriage?” my mother raised her brows as she looked at me.

“Uhm, I don’t know what to say about that, though it’s not a long story. I fell in love with Seth when I was a child, which you may have noticed, but then we had to move when we thought that you died. About one and half a month ago we returned to Ushua and I started attending a school in Balan.”

Cutting into my explanation, Seth said with a grin, “Yes, the one which you knew was my school.”

Sticking out my tongue, I said, “Look who is being smug.” Shaking my head, I continued, “Anyway, Father’s boss changed his mind so he was supposed to move once again.”

“Yes, but I knew what you felt for Seth even after five years, so I decided that I’d give you a chance,” Father chimed in.

“Well, I was being obvious about it, though I think I hid it quite well from a certain someone,” I said as I smiled at Seth.

“If that’s the case, how did you two get married in less than two months?” she asked with a frown.

Clearing his throat, Seth replied, “Your daughter is really beautiful and based on my memories, she was also nice to get along with, so I offered her the empty room in our house. My parents agreed and after meeting Michael, he also gave his consent.”

Looking at Seth, my mother raised her hand and said, “Pardon me, I have nothing against you, so don’t take this to heart.” Turning towards Father, she asked, “Did you seriously allow a sixteen years old girl to start living in the same house as an equal aged boy? I know exactly how much you earned with your job and I know for a matter of fact that you could have afforded a simpler maisonette even if I wasn’t there. You’re lucky that the one she loved was Seth.”

“Wait, wait, I met him beforehand so I knew that she’d be in good hands! I allowed her to move in only after that,” he raised his hands defensively.

Actually, he said that it was okay even before he met him… but I’m not going to screw him up.

“Is that the truth?” she asked Seth with a frown. Covering my face, I knew that he was busted.

The struggle was visible on Seth’s face. He didn’t want to lie to my mother but he didn’t want to put my father in a bad spot either. Seeing that things weren’t exactly like Father said, my mother was about to say something but I quickly continued, “Whatever. I’m not stupid and I wouldn’t have moved in if Seth was a bad person, so you’re worrying pointlessly.”

Once again before she could say something, I added, “After moving in, a few days passed and Seth confessed to me and things sort of just happened one after the other!”

Raising her brows, my mother looked at me and shook her head. “I must tell you that you’re really lucky that Seth also loves you else things could have ended up horribly for you two. If only I could have been there,” she sighed.

“I must tell you in Lien’s favor that she had a lot of experience with men and was really perceptive towards them. By this, I mean that she wouldn’t have let me close to her if I was a bad guy or a playboy,” Seth remarked.

Thanks to his retarded wording, my mother looked at me with wide opened eyes and gaped, “A lot of experience with men?! Lien?!”

Raising my brows, I peeked at Seth for a moment before replying, “He meant that I was bugged by a lot of men so a few sentences were enough for me to tell what kind of style a person had. That being the case, I knew that Seth was still the same person I liked as a child.”

Hearing my explanation, she quickly calmed down and said with a nod, “So that’s how it is.” Clearing her throat, knowing that she fell into a huge misunderstanding a moment ago, she said, “Anyway, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you did for me, and my family, and I can only give you my blessing, unfortunately,” she slightly bowed in front of Seth to show her appreciation.

“Wait, wait, there is really no need for that,” he waved his hands, looking back and forth between me and Mother with a panicked face. I didn’t get what made him so worked up. It wasn’t like I had something against my mother bowing in front of him. Normally I’d tell her not to do it, but considering the current situation, I really felt nothing against it. He deserved that much thanks, even if it wouldn’t help him in any way.

Sure enough, ‘sorry’, and ‘thanks’ were useless words in regards to progress, but it still made people feel better. At least, the latter did. The former… it was a different thing. Probably having enough of the strange atmosphere, Anna said, “So? Are the grandchildren coming anytime soon? You don’t seem to gain any weight, my dear,” she walked up to me and started caressing my belly.

“What? NO. It’s really too soon for that. I’m content with being wed to him,” I waved my hand, seeing my mother’s eyes twitching.

“What are you saying, Anna? They’re too young for that!”

“Oh, I can’t believe you’re still such a worrywart. You really haven’t changed. Just imagine your grandsons and granddaughters running around shouting ‘grandma, grandma’! Wouldn’t it be nice?”

“Well-” falling for her words, my mother started thinking but then quickly shook her head and said, “Ah, damn it! You’re still good at polluting my mind! The idea is nice, but when you think about the parents being only seventeen years old, the image isn’t all that okay, don’t you think?”

“Hahaha, I was just kidding.” Turning more serious, she said with a smile, “But you really don’t have to worry about them. They lived with us for about a month so I had enough time to assess their relationship. These two may be real lovebirds, but they aren’t being reckless, though they may be a little too addicted to their physical relationship…”

“Oh, god, just kill me,” Seth covered his face. “Why the hell are you bringing stuff like that up?”

“What? It’s healthy to talk about it. This just proves that you’re still immature in a few things, my son,” she shook her head. She was often playful and liked making fun of us, but she wasn’t a stupid person and took things seriously when she had to. Rolling his eyes, Seth sat down on the chair next to him and leaned on the table.

I decided to change the subject and asked my mother about her life in Light city. After she finished talking, my father also told her what happened to us while she was gone, followed by Anna and Peter. Before we noticed, we spent more than an hour chatting and went down to eat only when Dawud came up to tell us that our food was ready. On the way down, Seth knocked on Damon’s door and waited until he opened it.

A moment later footsteps neared the door, but instead of Damon, it was Dixon who welcomed us. The strange thing was that she had no clothes on and covered her body in a thick layer of grass instead. She looked really weird to me.

“What is this?” Seth raised a brow while Dixon just looked at our parents standing in the background. Since this was the first time my father and Seth’s parents saw a mutated form, they were all looking at Dixon with wide opened eyes.

As a response, she pulled back the grass into her body, leaving it only around her bust and her bottom, making it look like as if she was wearing a pants and a top made of grass. “I was feeling a little cold so I tried to warm up myself, but if it’s bothering you I can re-”

“Oh, no, no, there is no need,” Seth waved his hand, and Dixon immediately regrew the grass. Nodding his head, he said, “I just came to tell you that food is ready so please come down if you want to eat.”

Stepping to the side to let him look inside, she said, “I’ll wake up Damon and then go down.”

Taking a quick peek, I saw him sleeping on the bed while Seth just chuckled, “Why did you make him fall asleep? Was he annoying you?”

“Uh, it seems like nothing can avoid Master’s attention,” she grumbled. “He kind of took too much space and kept talking so I… I used some spores and put him to sleep,” she admitted, but I was more interested in something else.

“Wait, Master?” I asked.

“Well, he said he’d train us so I suppose that’s the right way to call him, or do you dislike it?” she asked, making me feel bad for asking. She was quite cunning. She knew what she was doing.

“No, it’s fine. It was just news to me,” I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn’t bothered by it, but I still found it a bit strange that she called him ‘Master’ out of nowhere. Her question kind of made me sound jealous, but it was fine.

“Now that you’re done chatting, let’s go. You’ll find us downstairs,” Seth said as he took hold of my hand and pulled me towards the stairs. He always took me with him wherever he went, which made me really happy since I didn’t have to beg for his attention and care. He was showering me in it out of his own will, which was another point I really loved in him. I’ve heard quite a lot of girls complaining about the rigidness of their boyfriends back in Ushua.

“Look at you, you’ve been smiling ever since your mom woke up. I’m sure you’re very happy,” Anna remarked as she stepped closer to me. Locking arms with me, she whispered into my ear, “You should stay a bit closer to Lana, I’m sure she’d be happy. I get that you love my son, but you should show her more attention.”

Leaning towards her, I replied, “I know, but Mother seems to be busy chatting with Father and I don’t want to intrude on them. Father must have felt lonely for many years without her and unlike him, I’m not lonely anymore. I’m sure I’ll find the time to be with her.”

Smiling at me, she said, “This just shows that you’re still young and don’t know what it’s like to be a parent. It’s not a problem, really, but believe me, they’re both going to be happy if you join them. You won’t be a bother.”

“I think she’s right, you should go,” Seth also said through Link. Seeing my mother turning around and peeking at me for a moment, I realised they were right.

“Fine,” I muttered as I let go of Seth’s hand and caught up with my parents.

Peeking behind my back, I could see Anna jumping on Seth’s arm like a wild tigress, snatching him all to herself.

Uh, so it was me who was in the way… she must have missed him after not seeing him for almost two weeks, I thought as I pushed myself between my parents and locked arms with them.

“And here I thought that you didn’t even care about me anymore,” my mother said.

“No, I just thought I’d give you two some alone time,” I shook my head.

“Haha, you don’t have to worry about that. I also think that I’ll have more than enough time to spend with your father in the forthcoming days, unlike you. At least, that’s what I understood from Seth’s words,” she said as she started caressing my back.

“Well, that’s not exactly true. I’ll go out to hunt and earn money but that won’t take more than a few hours a day. I can spend the rest of the day in the camp or wherever we’re going to be, it’s just that I’ll spend most of it training, learning, and practising, so I won’t be able to chat too much,” I replied.

“Oh, I’m quite happy to hear that. Even seeing you makes me happy, you know?” she smiled at me.

“You? I haven’t seen her for almost two weeks and she didn’t even bother calling me! Although Seth told me that you were going to visit Light city, I didn’t expect that one day I’d randomly wake up with Lana by my side,” Father shook his head.

“I think that we can agree that both of us are happy to spend some time with her,” Mother said, looking back and forth between Father and me. Leaning closer, she asked, “By the way, I’d like to have a mother-daughter conversation with you later.”

Raising my brows, I shrugged my shoulders, “Okay.”

She was about to continue when we reached the ground floor and noticed that there were only six tables, and four of those were occupied by others. There were two couples and two men, each sitting at a different table. Seeing so many of us descending the stairs, one of the men stood up from his table and sat over to the other man. I was quite surprised by his kind gesture, but a moment later he looked past me and nodded his head, and then sat down with a smile. Turning around, I noticed Seth smiling at the man.

My parents naturally sat down at one table and Seth’s parents’ at another table, while Dixon and Damon occupied the last one. Looking at Seth, I bit my lower lip, a little unsure of what to do. Although he didn’t look at me, I knew that he knew that I was staring at him, and he also knew why.

“What are you waiting for, Lien?” Father asked, seeing me standing next to my chair.

Finally raising his head, Seth looked into my eyes and started laughing, “Hahaha, fine, fine, just stop staring at me like that.” With a wave of his hand, the wooden tables started growing and in the blink of an eye, they turned into one.

“Now we can all sit together,” he said as he took the newly formed free seat next to me. Of course, he had to relocate the tables, but that was really simple. Looking at each other, our parents started grinning like a group of fools, constantly sneaking peeks at me.

“Why did I have to stare at you? Now they know that it was only me who wanted it,” I couldn’t help but complain as I sat down.

“It’s not that I didn’t want to do it, but when Dawud returns and sees this, he’s going to question me and I didn’t want to bother with an explanation,” he replied.

“I’m sorry about that, but I’ve had breakfast, lunch, and dinner with you for the last month, and I’ve got used to eating with you. We may be in a different place, but I’m your wife, your family, and I want to eat with my family!” I explained myself.

“You’re very cute, you know?” he asked. Unsure if I should react to that, I decided to keep silent and waited for Dawud to return with our food. While we were chatting through Link, our parents started talking about us, not even minding that we were sitting right in front of them.

“Aren’t they really sweet? You should’ve seen them when they started going out,” Anna told my mother. Leaning closer, she also whispered something I wished I hadn’t heard, but after becoming so much stronger, my hearing turned much better. She just had to tell her about the time when she caught me in front of Seth’s door. Naturally, my mother instantly raised her head and looked at me strangely, and then did the same with Father.

Thinking back, she was quite strict with me in my childhood, but I kind of forgot about it over the years. She took parenting quite seriously and I had a feeling it didn’t sit well with her that I fell for Seth so ‘headlessly’. Either way, her problem wasn’t that I was with Seth or Seth himself, it was that I’ve got together with a guy so quickly. I knew I didn’t have to worry about her trying to tear us apart, but I was expecting some sort of scolding during that ‘mother-daughter’ talk.

If I really wanted to defend myself, I could still use the ‘you weren’t there to show me example’ card, but that would definitely hurt her and I didn’t want that. And honestly speaking, it wasn’t even true and I’d lie if I brought that up. I’d have done the same even if she showed me example, and I’d rather listen to her preaching all day than to see her disappear again.

While I was focused on our mothers’ conversation, Seth sneakily put his hand on my thigh and started caressing it. When I looked at him, I realised he was doing it unconsciously and wasn’t even paying attention to anything. He was spacing out, which was quite unusual. Thinking that maybe he was planning something important, I kept silent and turned back towards my mother, but only for a moment because I felt his hand moving towards my middle parts.

“What the hell are you doing again?” I almost gave out a small moan as he started using pleasure touch on me.

“Haha, nothing. But you ignored my hand so I went for more,” he replied.

“Damn you, I thought you were thinking or something!” I shouted at him through Link.

“I was thinking about your costume and came to the conclusion that I want you to dress up and behave like my personal maid who’d do anything! Knowing you, I’d dare to bet on that you’ve been thinking about a way to repay me, so that’s what I want as my reward,” he said as he pulled back his hand, finally leaving me alone.

Slumping down in my chair, I heaved out a sigh of relief, which turned out to be a terrible idea since my sigh was more of a moan. Although everyone was talking, they did it silently and a sound like that instantly drew everyone’s attention towards me. Clearing my throat, I pretended that nothing happened. Peter and my father didn’t bother with it and continued talking, but the other women… they once again looked at me suspiciously.

Stop staring! My sighs are naturally erotic and sound like moans! Please, ignore me, I started praying.

“Although I’d like to hit you for this, I’d be found out instantly so I’ll let you off, but don’t do this again!” I warned him. He really took his games a bit too far sometimes.

“Hmm, the magical `don't` always makes me want to do the opposite,” he replied as he once again put his hand on my thigh.

“Could you fucking stop?” I said in a low voice.

“I’m not sure, that moan was so cute a moment ago, I want to hear more of it,” he said with a smirk.

Gnashing my teeth, I said, “Look, I said I would do anything, but why do you have to do this?”

“For how long do you want to keep whispering to each other?” Anna asked, unable to contain herself any longer.

“I’m sorry, we’re just used to talking like this,” Seth replied.

Raising their brows, Anna and Mother looked at him as if he was an idiot. “Do you really expect that we’d believe something like that? It’s not that you can’t have private talks and I didn’t ask you to tell me what you were talking about, I just asked you to stop whispering. It’s rude to whisper privately while being a group, haven’t I taught you manners?” Anna asked with a frown.

“Fine, fine, I’ll stop,” he waved his hand. For the first time since we started going out, I felt that our parents were jealous. My mother wanted my attention while Anna desired Seth’s attention. If I had to be honest, I found it quite funny.

A moment later Dawud returned with a food car which was filled to the brim with soups, meat, and a smaller cake! Although we paid almost as much for the food as the room, Dawud wasn’t being stingy and gave us a considerable amount of food. Seeing such a large variety, I felt a bit down for eating that hamburger by myself earlier. It filled me up so much that I probably wouldn’t eat anything until next morning. Most of the time I ate only two times a day, and even then, it wasn’t much.

At first, he didn’t say anything and cried out only when he put the first pot of soup on the table. “What the hell?! Where’d you bring this table from and where did you put my tables?”

“These are your tables, I’ve just connected them with wood magic for the time being,” Seth replied. “By the way, you don’t have to worry, I’ll turn them back to normal when we’re done eating,” he added.

“Can you do that?” Dawud asked with a frown.

“Of course, I wouldn’t have connected them if I couldn’t,” Seth nodded, peering towards the bar. Following his eyes, I found Dawud’s son peeking over the bar and staring at us, his eyes gleaming with interest.

“Go back to your room!” his father shouted at him as he also followed Seth’s eyes and noticed his son. Making a dejected face, he climbed off of the bar and ran off towards the kitchen. Clearing his throat, Dawud continued his job and filled the table with all kinds of food.

When he finished and was about to leave, Seth turned after him and said, “I have nothing to do with how you raise him, but if you keep chasing him away because we’re strangers, then you aren’t really teaching him how to deal with strange people. I can assure you that we are not going to hurt him, so you don’t have to chase him out of the room every time we appear. You need to teach him how to deal with people not from these parts, not make him think that he should be scared of any and all strangers.”

Stopping in his tracks, Dawud stood there in silence for a few seconds and then left without saying anything. He clearly wasn’t fond of us, though I didn’t really understand why.

Seeing the table filled with food and everyone ready, Seth turned ahead and said, “Well, let’s eat then. Quite a lot of things have happened to me, and I really want to take some break after this.”

“That’s what you say, but I bet you’re going to mingle with Lien,” Anna said, making the others laugh. Although I laughed at it as well, there was a sense of truth in her words. It wasn’t like Seth wanted to have sex right after a day like this, but I could never be sure.

Whether he wanted something or not… it was up to him.