Stuart appeared to be momentarily taken aback before he asked, “No? What do you mean ‘no’?”
“It’s exactly what it means, Stuart,” said Lakshman with a smile. “I won’t help her, not because I don’t want to, I highly doubt she is the kind to willingly seek help.”
“Really?” His friend asked, intrigued. “What makes you say that? The person in the past and this person could be two entirely different people and though the person you remember won’t seek help, perhaps this person is not the same? Did you think of that?”
Those words caused Lakshman to chuckle and respond with, “I know that. I’m fully aware of that, but so far from what I’ve read about her, I doubt she is that willing to seek help. Take for instance, her daily meals. You know that she receives a tight amount from her parents for her education, right?”
“Yes,” said Stuart slowly, not sure where this was going.
“That amount is sufficient for her to eat three times a day. However, it seems that she only eats twice a day; once in the morning and once in the night. Sometimes, she even skips out on one of those as well just to use that money to buy equipment and such for her classes.”
“Say what?!” Stuart exclaimed in shock. “How is that healthy for her at such a young age?! She could ask for a student loan and… oh…”
Lakshman nodded as he saw his childhood friend beginning to understand the implications.
“She’s an independent person that wants to work hard on her own without seeking help from others,” said Stuart in amazement.
“That’s right. So, you see why I don’t think helping her directly would be a good idea. We’ll need to go for a different approach.”
“And that is?”
Lakshman looked up at his friend and smiled as he replied, “You’ll see,” which left his friend looked baffled.
That night, Lakshman announced, “I’m going to announce my return to the public.”
“What?” Was the reaction that everyone had.
“You’ll announce your return? Are you sure?” Tetra asked curiously.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit too soon?” Silvera asked anxiously. “You just returned and already back to work?”
“You should get some rest and have some fun with the babies,” suggested Sonia hopefully.
“I’m not going to go away and neither will the kids,” said Lakshman with a smile, “although they’re crawling very quickly.”
“Well, all of them are about nine-months-old so they’re crawling away really fast,” stated Ondine with a smile.
This made Lakshman raise an eyebrow and ask them, “What? Are you trying to keep me relaxed by giving me the job of babysitting?”
“I just feel you should take a break. Maybe a month away from work,” advised Silvera.
“I have to agree with her,” said Tetra in agreement. “You really need to take a break.”
“Oh, seriously,” he began with a sigh, “I’ve left my jobs as the King of Floria Kingdom to Vena and Erza and you think I’m happy about that?”
“I’m not complaining,” responded Venezuela immediately defensively. “It’s also my duty to perform my tasks as Queen.”
“Yes but—!” Her husband began worriedly.
“Erza has also been helping me by taking some of the workload off my shoulders,” Venezuela added with a smile as she turned to Erza for support.
“That’s right,” said Erza with a smile, “and I like being useful this way than feeling trapped like I did back in my world.”
Lakshman understood what she meant and could not refute her statement. Looking around, he realised that all of his wives were giving him concerned looks as they were worried about his health and welfare. This was a first for him since he had always been the one to shower them with such worry and concern.
It made him start to feel that maybe they were right, and he should take things slowly.
“You should really listen to your wives when they’re so worried about you,” added Stuart from his side.
This made Lakshman turn and glare irritably at his childhood friend, who smiled sheepishly.
“I was only advising. No need to glare at me so angrily,” he said and turned away.
“Lucky,” began Emilia, and Lakshman looked towards her as she went on saying, “I also think you should relax and spend some time with your kids. They’re not exactly feeling that comfortable seeing you or being with you since you haven’t been with them for a while since they were born.”
She hit the nail that hurt him hard, but he knew she was right. Ever since their birth, he only visited them a few times to check on how everyone was doing. Other than that, he had remained inside the special dimension with the rest of the Nine Pillars of Power for over a year to prepare for the war with the demons and the Calamity Titan.
Now that there is no conflict, perhaps his wives were right in him taking things slowly and spend more time with family. He was not against the idea. In fact, he was very excited to spend time with his family. However, his strong principles and feeling of wanting to fulfil his duties as king were urging him to get back to work.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
He glanced around at them all one last time before sighing and admitting, “Sure. Let’s spend a good time together.”
Everyone cheered with a loud “Yay!” only to quickly quiet down when their loud yells startled the sleeping babies.
“Since we’re agreed on that I should relax, why don’t we go shopping tomorrow?” Lakshman suggested with a smile.
“What? Shopping?” Everyone asked and turned to look at one another in amazement.
“What? Why’re you looking like that? Is it strange that I asked?” He asked worriedly.
“It’s not that, Lucky,” said Emilia in clarification. “It’s just that it’s been quite some time since we last went shopping with us all so we were just unprepared for your sudden proposal.”
“Oh. Well, I just thought we should have a good time and be outdoors,” said their husband with a smile while scratching the back of his head embarrassment.
“If Whamana was still here, he would’ve whistled at your boldness,” said Asura with a laugh inside his mind.
“Wow. Lucky actually asked his wives out for shopping. I must be dreaming,” said Stuart from his side in amazement.
“Stop that!” Lakshman retorted, but he smiled as he watched his wives laugh, feeling very joyous for the life he currently had.
He watched as each of his wives seemed to be thinking about what they would be shopping for. Lakshman could particular hear Sumara muttering under her breath about acquiring some magic crystals of some kind, possible for experimentation or something that he was able to guess.
“Well, you guys can go shopping first and later, I and Erza will join you,” said Venezuela with a sad smile.
“What? Why?” Tetra asked curiously.
“We got a meeting with the other kings from the other kingdoms,” sighed Erza with a smile. “A general meeting to discuss security and such since there seems to be more monsters running amok these days.”
“Is that so? They’re not causing you any grievances?” He asked them curiously.
For a moment, Venezuela and Erza glanced sideways at each other before Erza replied with a smile, “No need for concern. This meeting is just to form a deal of contract between the Phoenix Clan and the kingdoms in a joint partnership in safeguarding transportation of supplies and people alike.”
“Oh. That’s good then,” said Lakshman with a smile before adding, “but don’t hesitate to look for me for help, alright?”
Erza laughed and said easily, “I know.”
They then spent an hour in their room with the babies and talked some more about the day to day goings on in the capital and the surroundings before Emilia decided that they should go to bed.
“Okay. Get some good night sleep since we got to have a great time tomorrow!” Lakshman told them with a smile.
“The breakfast will be ready, and as soon as we’re done, we can go,” said Emilia and everyone nodded in agreement.
“Alright. Goodnight everyone,” he bid them.
“Sleep well,” wished Sonia.
“Nighty night,” called Silvera cutely.
“Sleep tight,” said Ondine sweetly.
He smiled and waved at them before leaving the room and closing the door. Then Cantia jumped to her feet and went tiptoeing to the door and placed her face sideways it so her ear was touching the door. She seemed to be checking to make sure that he was really gone, so when she heard her husband’s room door open and close, she breathed a sigh and turned back to her sisters.
“He’s in his room,” she said with a smile.
“Just in case, stay there since we never know when he might suddenly come back,” instructed Tetra. Then she turned to Venezuela and asked, “So, Vena, what’s this meeting tomorrow really about?”
Venezuela sighed wearily and said, “It’s about the compensation for the soldiers that had lost their lives fighting in the war.”
“That guy still not agreeing to the terms you proposed?” Ondine asked with a sad look.
Venezuela nodded while Erza explained, “We’re willing to compensate each and every family suffered a loss with 100,000 gold coins but the Mardana King is demanding we give 500,000 gold coins.”
“What?! That’s outrageous!” Cantia exclaimed in shock.
“Shuush!” Everyone said simultaneously at her with their forefingers over their mouths.
Cantia reacted with surprise and looked towards the kids, who had jerked in surprise to her loud voice.
“Oops. Sorry,” she apologised with a sheepish smile.
“But you’re right, that is outrageous,” said Silvera as she got back onto the topic at hand.
“100,000 gold coins are like a lifetime’s worth of money that a family could easily live without worries, but 500,000? That’ll drag our country into debt,” Erza expressed her concern as she understood the major problem that would cause for their country.
“And I don’t think raiding all the dungeons and labyrinths around the world to get that money is acceptable either,” added Sumara gravely. “It would affect the lives of all the adventurers and the Adventure Guilds at large if most dungeons and labyrinths suddenly go dry.”
“It’s obvious that guy is trying to drag us down!” Silvera said irritably.
“You mean the King of Mardana Kingdom, right?” Emilia asked, and Silvera nodded.
“Who else would I be mentioning other than that idiot?” Silvera asked irritably.
“The King of Ashtra Kingdom seems accepting but the King of Mardana Kingdom’s been adamant that his kingdom suffered the most due to them losing more soldiers than the others and are demanding such a hefty amount of compensation,” explained Venezuela wearily.
“He’s taking advantage of the situation, that scumbag,” cursed Cantia angrily.
“Anyway, we shouldn’t let this get within earshot of Lucky, are we clear on that?” Emilia asked them all. “If he hears about it, he will surely be very angry and will take matters into his own hands.”
“Yes, since we managed to convince him to get some well-deserved rest and have a good time instead of burying himself in work again,” agreed Ondine.
“Yes, and he seems to be very excited to take us out for shopping tomorrow,” pointed out Ondine with a smile. “It certainly has been a while.”
“It has,” said Tetra with a soft smile.
“I didn’t expect that he’d propose to us to go shopping,” expressed Sonia in amazement. “I was already content to be by his side and help him however I can but… never did I dream he’d want us to go shopping.”
“I think something happened when he visited that other world?” Silvera asked and turned towards Erza. “Don’t you think so too, Erza?”
“Right. I think so too,” agreed Erza with a nod and a smile. “Perhaps the lifestyle of our people there and just living in general over there had a profound effect on him so he’s being bolder than usual.”
“Whatever’s the case, I’m excited for tomorrow!” Cantia expressed excitedly.
Once again, she had spoken a little loudly and caused their babies to stir, which made the others turn to her and hissed “Shuush!” warningly. This made her quickly clamp both of her hands over her mouth, but she still grinned with excitement.
“Anyway, let’s get to sleep since it’ll probably be a busy day tomorrow and remember; he must not learn about the true intentions of the meeting tomorrow,” said Emilia, and everyone nodded in agreement.
“Yes, since it’s our turn to make his life easier instead of him being the one to always make our lives easier,” added Ondine and they all agreed in unison with serene smiles on their faces.
Thus, everyone took up positions of sleeping in their usual manner in the room around their babies and with a word of a command, all the light crystals in the room went out at once.