“What did you say? You were attacked by a band of thieves?” Venezuela asked in a surprised voice upon hearing about the little trouble that Lakshman had encountered earlier that day.
After entering their room, Lakshman closed the door and activated a sensor barrier magic spell that did not allow for the conversation they were having to leak out. Once they all sat down on the bed, Lakshman began telling Venezuela, Erza, Tetra, Silvera and Cantia about the adventure he, Emilia, Sumara and Ondine had that day.
“Nyaa… Thieves are stupid-nyaa,” said Cantia with an annoyed expression on her face.
“Quite, but they were weak and I could’ve easily took care of them, but I hesitated when I saw that they were neutral,” said Lakshman with a small smile on her face.
“Neutral?” Venezuela asked and all the girls groaned, which surprised Lakshman. “Don’t tell me you lost all interest in wanting to fight them and made Emilia, Sumara and Ondine do the fighting for you?”
“N-Not entirely,” said Lakshman quickly when he saw Venezuela and Erza looking at him intently. “After they attempted to punch me, I took them down easily by using Gravity Down.”
“Which, you could’ve used right from the start and saved the girls the trouble of fighting in the first place!” Venezuela told him with a stern look on her face.
“Yes. I think you should’ve automatically used it to take down your enemies,” said Erza with a disappointed expression on her face. “In the future, you never hesitated to take down your enemies, even if they were neutral.”
Lakshman was very surprised by the words of his wife and he quickly asked, “Wait… Are you saying I kill people without giving a damn about the colour they were represented in my Elemental Sight?”
Erza thought for a moment before saying, “I’m not really sure whether you used that technique specifically or not, but you totally killed and destroyed all those that dared to come in your way, including the heroes.”
For a moment, she smiled at him before that smile slowly faded and she clapped her mouth with her hands. She looked very surprised at herself for saying something that she did not intend to. The other girls turned and looked at her with puzzled expressions on their faces.
“Heroes…? Do you mean the legendary heroes or something like that? They exist in your world?” Tetra asked while looking surprised.
Erza hesitated for a moment before removing her hand off her mouth and said, “Yes. They are the summoned heroes.”
Once again, she clapped her hands over her mouth with a very surprised expression on her face. It seemed that she let something important slip and it made Lakshman make an exasperated expression on his face.
“Tell me… Am I a summoned hero in your world?” Lakshman asked her curiously.
She looked at him with a pitiful expression on her face before nodding once. The girls all made surprised expressions on their faces while looking at each other. He sighed once and asked her another question.
“When is the summoning going to take place?”
To this, she simply shook her head and after a moment’s pause, she removed her hands off her mouth and said, “I’m not sure, but it will happen sometime later in the future. You were still eighteen-years-old when the summoning took place and you had already unlocked your full powers, I believe.”
“I see… So, sometime in the future, I’ll get transported into another world through a summoning,” said Lakshman in a quiet voice and he placed a hand on his chin to think about it.
Silvera looked around at them all once before turning to Erza and asking, “Why did Lucky get summoned into your world? Did something happen?”
In that moment, Erza looked down at her hands and made a very sad expression on her face. The girls were startled to see her make such a sad expression and they turned to look indignantly at Silvera. She quickly realised her mistake and quickly said to her in apology.
“Erza, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to upset you by my question.”
Erza looked at her and while making a small smile on her face, she waved her hand to set aside Silvera’s apology.
“No, no. It’s okay. I understand why you asked me such a question. It’s only natural to wonder why your beloved would get summoned into another world,” said Erza in an understanding voice. “Now that I think about it, my world in the future was peaceful thanks to the heroic efforts of the Nine Heroes of Legends, but now, I think the world is in going through the turmoil.”
“Nine Heroes of Legends? Is that the name of the group of summoned heroes in your world?” Venezuela asked her and Erza nodded in agreement.
“Yes. I suppose they are similar to the Nine Pillars of Power, but they each represent some sort of power and cannot selected out of the strongest warriors in our world. It had to be the summoned heroes specifically for each individual to possess that power,” explained Erza to everyone in the room.
As she sighed deeply, Lakshman scratched his head in annoyance and said, “Disregarding that, this time loop business is so complicated! You came from the future to the past through the same portal that I walked through to return to my world after completing whatever task I had in that world. So, what time did I, the future me, land in after returning to this world?
“Actually, I didn’t come through the same portal that you left through,” said Emilia and surprised everyone.
“Eh? You didn’t?” Tetra asked and Erza shook her head firmly.
“No. After he walked through it, another portal opened up and wanting to see the one I loved, I walked through it and found myself in the past of this world, when Lakshman and all of you were still as young as me.”
“You know. I’ll solve all of our problems by simply reading your mind and memories,” said Lakshman and he raised his hand towards Erza.
In an instant, she covered her forehead and quickly said, “Please… You shouldn’t know too much of the future…”
The girls blinked in surprise and looked at one another before turning their gaze upon Lakshman. He looked at her for a moment with his hand suspended in mid-air and thought about it. Then, coming to a decision, he shrugged his shoulders and let his hand drop on the bed.
“Okay. I understand,” said Lakshman and Erza breathed a sigh of relief. “Besides, seeing the entirety of the future will make it rather boring and will change the future, which might cause you to no longer being in this world. I cannot let that happen, Erza… I don’t want to lose you and this has nothing with you being a Destiny Queen and such. I just love you that much…”
At those words, Erza’s eyes widened in great surprise and she blushed deeply before covering her cheeks with her hands. She was totally taken aback at him suddenly saying those words, but she slowly recovered to smile happily at him.
“Yes. I’m glad to hear them,” said Erza with a lovely smile as she lovingly looked at her husband.
“Lucky… What about us…?” Tetra asked with narrowed eyes. “You so daringly said that to Erza right in front of us. Aren’t you the slightest bit worried what we might think of being left out?”
“Oh…! Do I have to pronounce my love especially for everyone when it’s obvious?” Lakshman asked them before chuckling. Then, smiling at them all, he took a deep breath and said, “I love you so much that I’d kiss you all right now!”
Hearing him proclaim such words, all the girls became happy, pleased and blushed in their own way. Tetra and Ondine appeared to be pleased while slightly blushing, Silvera blushed deeply again and she began fidgeting with her fingers and Cantia made a dreamy expression on her face. Only Venezuela kept her cool, but it was a difficult task for her as she tried her to keep a straight face while hiding the blush that momentarily appeared on her face.
She quickly cleared her throat and said, “My goodness... We’re not kids to want such confessions all the time…”
“Vena, you just don’t want to admit it that you like it,” said Silvera with a cheeky smile on her face.
Venezuela coughed several times more and instead of replying to her, she said, “A-Anyway… Coming back to the main topic from earlier, what did you do after using Gravity Down on the thieves?”
She was clearly embarrassed to talk more about the topic of love, which the girls could see written all over her face. Lakshman saw Venezuela looking intently at him and realised that she really wanted to change the topic. Serious topics are always great with her, but when they arrive at such topics, she becomes very shy and tends to avoid it most of the time.
“Although, she doesn’t avoid me when it’s our bed time,” thought Lakshman before smiling within himself.
Sighing within himself, he looked at her and explained the rest of the story about what happened after the giant explosion erupted nearby.
***
After explaining everything, there was a moment of silence as all the girls digested what he had to say. Then, they slowly nodded in understanding before Venezuela became the first to speak again.
“As I thought, you let them go without punishing them or anything,” she said in a rather dissatisfied voice.
“It’s the only natural thing to do when one learns of their circumstances and the reasons behind their motive into being thieves in the first place,” said Lakshman indignantly. “Before I left, I made sure to give them a warning that I will deal with them if they chose to make me regret sparing them. Besides, even Dominic wouldn’t arrest them and put them in prison.”
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Venezuela realised what he was thinking and she quickly made to reassure him of her feelings.
“Of course. I totally understand and yes, I agree that the Sword Titan wouldn’t have put them in prison. However, I doubt he would’ve let them off without beating each and every one of them. Unlike you, who just gave a few knocks to the head of that head warrior guy, he would do his best to thoroughly deliver fear into them at the prospect of ever wanting to commit thievery in the future.”
Lakshman was slightly taken aback by her words and he said, “Um… Vena, that’s brutality and that’s one thing I’ll make sure to avoid doing. I may kill evil guys after giving them a warning, but I cannot perform such ridiculous actions… It’s just not in my character to do…”
Venezuela smiled at him and said, “I understand, but the point I’m making here is… Make sure Dominic doesn’t hear about this. Otherwise, he would drop all work and teleport here to do some justice work.”
“Ah!” Lakshman said as he realised the point she was making. He nodded immediately in agreement and said, “We best keep this one a secret from him. I don’t want that village being suddenly attacked by my good friend.”
“Ah… Just imagining the looks on the people of that village when they get visited by him… Oh boy… It’ll be a nightmare…” Ondine said slowly with her gaze looking towards the ceiling of the room.
“Agreed. That justice filled head of his will only do more damage than good if he comes to know of this,” said Tetra with Silvera and Cantia nodding in agreement.
“Right,” said Venezuela as she nodded at them all. “Moving on, it appears that you got attacked by a demon upon arriving at the village because you visited them out of curiosity to find out what the explosions were all about.”
“No. We didn’t immediately get attacked, but the villagers did,” said Ondine as she remembered the events of that day. “Having had enough, Lucky jumped in and saved them when that wench attempted to take the entire village out with a mighty blast.”
“Ondine! Manners!” Venezuela said sharply and Ondine lightly nodded her head in agreement. “So, after dealing with that attack, you and that demon girl got into an argument?”
“It was not an ordinary argument,” said Lakshman with a heavy sigh. “They were arguing about who the better lover was as they compared me with the Calamity Titan. Seriously…! I thought I saw them exchange lighting bursts while radiating in their blue reckless aura.”
“Geez, Ondine… You shouldn’t argue like that with someone, you’re clearly making it seem like they are the winner,” said Tetra crossly. “The winner of any argument never loses their cool.”
“Ondine-nyaa… You’re quite reckless-nyaa…” Cantia commented in a quiet voice.
“W-What did you expect me to do?” Ondine asked indignantly. “That woman was calling Lucky a useless lowly human! I couldn’t take anyone daring to call my beloved in such a way in front of me!”
Venezuela shook her head and moving on, she said, “After that, your argument exploded into a fierce battle between the two of you, leading you to attempt to kill her, but it failed when the girl backed away. Then, Lucky got in your way and stopped you from attacking her again, only to end up getting hit by the girl’s attack, hurting you somewhat.”
“He interfered when I could’ve gotten her, stating how she appeared to be an ally in his Elemental Sight. It was so frustrating taking such an attack from her when I could’ve taken her out!” Ondine said in a frustrated voice.
“Okay, okay…! Calm down, Ondine,” said Erza quickly and waved her hand at her. “You know, as well as everyone here, that Elemental Sight never lies as it’s a technique that cannot be misdirected or forced to lie. So, she might be our enemy today, but she might be our ally in the future… Who really knows what the Elemental Sight meant by her being our ally…?”
“More importantly, I think Ondine has to reflect on her actions of today,” said Tetra in a stern voice as she stared at Ondine. “You got yourself attacked and almost made Lucky kill someone that appeared to be an ally. You know how angry he becomes if any one of us gets hurt. Still, you go and hurt yourself by being your usual self by being reckless.”
Ondine was very surprised by Tetra’s words and Venezuela nodded at her words before she said, “Yes! I completely agree with Tetra! I feel that it’s high time Ondine starts growing up from being so reckless!” She pointed a finger at her and said, “You need to grow up and change, Ondine for crying out loud. This cannot go on forever… You’ll only do more harm than good like this.”
Upon seeing the girls nodding in agreement with each other to the world spoken by Venezuela, Ondine’s eyes widened in astonishment. She could not understand why
“Y-You’re saying it was wrong of me to act the way I did when a woman disrespects the man I love?” Ondine asked with a truly appalled expression on her face.
“We understand how you felt at that time,” said Erza in an understanding voice, “but you need to start reigning those feelings of yours into control. You’re now an adult and turning eighteen soon as well. So, you can’t keep acting the way you do right now because it will become troublesome in the future. Please consider how Lucky would feel about your reckless actions.”
“B-But…! Cantia also acts that way!” Ondine said and she pointed towards Cantia, who was being pet on the head by Lakshman.
“Yes, but there’s a big difference; she’s from the Camdra Beast Clan while you’re part of the dignifying Water Spirits,” said Venezuela coolly.
“Nyaa…” said Cantia and she looked up at Ondine with a dull expression on her face. “I am a bit reckless, but I don’t behave in such a manner-nyaa. True-nyaa. I would’ve gotten angry as well if I was there, but I would’ve waited to see Lucky’s reaction-nyaa. After all, it was him that was being insulted directly and not through me-nyaa. Besides, acting it cool and being smart about it pays wonders-nyaa.”
Ondine could not believe she was hearing such words out of Cantia’s mouth. All this time, Cantia had played around with her like a cat and teased her many times for a lot of things, but this was unexpected. Now, in front of everyone there, she appeared to be the only one that behaved like a reckless kid without a care in the world.
She looked at her hands and for the first time in her life, she truly wondered about her actions. All this time, she had behaved brave, courageous and reckless due to being always being shunned by the Water Spirits in the area she lived in. That behaviour stuck to her and she felt comfort in it, but she suddenly began feeling very nervous as doubts slowly formed in her mind in the way she led her life.
“I must change…? How…? I…” she said uncertainly in a low voice as she stared down at her hands with a lost expression on her face.
None of them had an answer to that and only could watch helplessly as she struggled with herself. They were very worried for her and their concern over their sister had caused them to speak in such a way to her. Lucky is powerful right now and can handle everything that comes in his way, but what if he was not around when she encounters trouble. This worried thought made them want to make her change for the better.
Lakshman was the only one who was staring at her with a cool expression on his face. He was wearing a small smile on his face as he observed the inner struggle that Ondine was going through. For a while, he simply sat there and watched her before finally speaking.
“If you want to change, why don’t we talk to the culprit?”
All the girls looked at him and simultaneously said, “Huh?”
“What do you mean, Lucky?” Venezuela asked him with narrowed eyes.
“I think its best we talk to sort this out by first talking to ‘her,’” he said while putting a little emphasis on the last word.
“Lucky… I don’t understand… We’re already talking to her…” Tetra told him softly, but he shook his head before smiling at them all.
He pointed a finger at Ondine and said, “I meant the ‘someone’ living alongside Ondine without her knowing of her existence.”
“Eh?” Ondine asked him in a startled voice and her eyes widened in surprise.
Erza looked from between him, then Ondine and then back at Lakshman. Erza suddenly widened her eyes as if she realised something quicker than everyone else in the room.
“You don’t mean…?” she began hesitantly in a voice full of disbelief.
Lakshman nodded once and with a smile on his face, he said, “Yes. There are two spirits in Ondine’s body.”
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Author's Note
Hello again, everyone and thank you for reading the chapter. I had written the chapter last night, but my sleep called me into bed and I slept the night. Now, I fixed up a few sentence stuff that I might've messed up while writing it last night because I had a headache. Anyway, see you next time when a new chapter is written and released!