"Well folks, here we are." The friendly replacement driver turned around and gave us a smile, "That'll be 40 silver for the fare, please."

"Here you are." I gave him a flat fifty, "Keep the change, it's for giving us a ride on such short notice."

"Oh, thank you, sir! And no worries about that, I won't ever say no to a job, haha!"

"Is that so? Then you won't mind if I ask for the tip back?"

"A-Ah, sir, that's..."

"Cool it, I'm just joshing you." I patted the poor guy on the back before exiting the transport wagon, "Thanks again for the ride, we'll take it from here."

This guy's a fair bit older than Beth, which shows in how he deals with his clients. Still, it looks like he didn't pay off his debts for the wagon. In other words, unlike Beth, he has that anxiety about getting a tip that most other wagon drivers share. Still, he drove very smoothly, which let us all catch up on some well-needed sleep overnight, made friendly small talk whenever he sensed we were awake, and was just overall a good guy, so I don't mind tipping him at all. Gods know these guys need it more than I do.

"Well, guess it's finally time to head home." I then stopped myself, "Heh, technically we're leaving my home, so I can't say that, can I?"

"We're heading for OUR home." Cecily restructured the sentence, "There, that sounds about right. Maybe Whitehood is your home, but the house in Cardina is ours."

"I like that, sounds nice."

"Awe we thewe yet?" Cene looked worn out from our time in the transport wagon, "Is it finally ovew? Can I see my fwiends again? And uncle Ed and auntie Anna?"

"Yeah, just about." I replied.

"And Awoo?"

"S-She'll come later." I looked away as I lied through my teeth, "If you do your best to make it happen, that is."

"Oh..." He then yet again steeled his resolve to meet her again in this life, "Yeah, I'll definitely see hew again soon!"

Realistically though, seeing a God isn't something you can just do. She's not an item on sale at the super market, after all. Actually, it's so rare to see a God in person that they've fallen into the "legend" category. There are atheists who don't even believe they exist due to their hermit lifestyle, despite the fact the Gods literally walk the same earth as them. If Cene really wants to see Aru again, I at least wanna let him know that it'll really take all he's got.

"Dear, go buy the tickets. We'll go wait next to the ship." Cecily asked me.

"Oh, sure thing."

We knew that the ship leaves for Cardina at 8 in the morning, which is just about half an hour away, but that doesn't mean we can just board it for free. No, you gotta buy a ticket at the booth for that, and only then can you step in line for the captain to rip your ticket and let you get on. The tickets are also pretty damned pricey, being a gold forty each, making it a total of 4 gold coins and 20 silvers for the three of us. I don't care what anyone says, that's just stealing from the common folk at this point!

"Alright sir, the line's over there." The ticketmaster pointed yonder, "Have a safe trip, and thank you for choosing SarmaTravel."

"Yes, I know. Thank you as well." I nodded before returning to Cecily and Cene, "Here we are. Now to hand this to the captain when it's our turn."

"Great, we made it in time." Cecily smiled back, "I guess Beth really did save us with her hyperfast driving."

My ass, that reckless driving of hers was riddled with ulterior motives of wanting to get back home earlier. If she just stuck to the plan and went straight to the dock instead, then she could've driven half the speed limit the entire time and we still would've had time to spare. I refuse to feel grateful for her childish angst.

"Sir." The captain glared at me, "What's that you got wrapped up behind your back?"

"Ah." I recalled The Prototype was something I was carrying back home, "This is..."

"Open it up." He immediately knew just from the shape, "Guns and any other sharp objects aren't allowed on the ship. As the captain, I forbid you guys from entering if you don't hand it over."

"Daddy?" Cene looked sad, "That's The Pwototype...! It's mine!"

"Yeah, yeah, don't worry! Daddy's got this!" I shushed him, "Ahem, in any case sir, this is a family heirloom."

"Is it sharp?" He raised an Eyebrow.

"..." I unwrapped it in front of him before swinging, "Hyah!"

Now, from the way it's written, I'm sure I gave the readers a violent image of me slashing the captain up into thousands of tiny pieces, but no matter how funny that'd be, it's just not what happened. No, instead what I was slashing away at was the hard concrete floor below me, purposefully dulling the blade until it was safer than a butterknife.

"S-Sir!?" He looked scared and confused, "What are you...?"

"Ugh, haaah... There." I showed him that it was no longer sharp by repeatedly running it against my forearm, "No blood, not even a light cut. That should be plenty dull to let us aboard, right?"

"Bwaaaahhh!!!!" Cene began bawling his Eyes out, "Daddy wuined the swowd~!"

"Eh? N-No, Cene, it can be repaired, come on!" I hastily explained my master plan to him, "I'll have it sharpened again when we get home, so come on, cheer up!"

"Oh, that was your plan?" Cecily smirked, "And here I thought you just snapped and wanted to break the damned thing right then and there."

I'm no wild animal, I just... Ah, what the hell am I saying? I was definitely considering it for a good nanosecond.

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***

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"Cene, are you still mad at me?" I tried to reassure him as the boat set sail, "I told you already, it's just a bit dulled, but the legendary blade is still the same as ever."

"Hmph!" He pouted before turning his gaze away.

"Hmm..." Cecily figured, "Actually, it'll probably be better with this."

"Yeah?" Cene and I both listened in, "How so?"

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Well, it's an old blade that's been braving the elements in a rock for some 10 odd years at least." She elaborated on her reasoning, "It probably wasn't all that sharp to begin with, so taking it to a proper blacksmith to have it repaired would definitely make it cut hair with ease."

"...Weally?" Cene tilted his head, "Is that twue?"

"Yeah, you really think I'd just break your stuff without any chances of getting it back?" I grinned back at him, "You little rascal, what the heck do you take me for?"

"Hahaha! Okay then, I'm sowwy." Cene soon returned to his chipper self yet again after hearing this.

Thank goodness Cecily helped me out here, otherwise Cene never would've trusted my words. Obviously, there'd be no denying them after I had it fixed and gave it back to him good as new, but that's definitely gonna take at least a few days, and I couldn't bare his silent treatment for that long. I've been through countless hardships, but I think getting the cold shoulder from my loved ones would definitely tip me over the edge the most. This is why they say parenting is a team sport, folks!

"Cecily." I gave her a sly thumbs up, "Nice assist."

"Hm?" She raised an Eyebrow, "No problem? Anyways, when should we be expected to reach the dock in Meridia?"

"Whoa, hold your horses, we just left this one." I reclined in my seat, "Pff, I guess... 6 days? No, make that 7, since that's how long it took to get from Cardina to here in the first place."

"But wasn't that because of the enviroment being kinda rough? I think I remember the captain at the time saying something along those lines."

"Fair point, make that 5 days then."

"Five days, okay!" Cene jumped in his seat restlessly, "I'll make it pass in an instant!"

"Yeah, now that the hard part is done, all we have to do is sit back and wait." I added.

"..."

"......"

"....................."

"I'm bowed." Cene immediately stopped bouncing on his bum after burning out, "Can we go do something fun?"

"Want me to teach you how to play chess?" I shrugged.

"No, I don't wanna leawn that." He shook his head, "It looks bowing."

Boring!? How dare you disrespect the most fun game of all time! A perfect game made by geniuses, for geniuses! It has no flaws in its system, its design optimized and thought through so much that any disadvantage or loss you get put through is entirely the player's fault! There isn't a single game better to spend the time with on these long voyages! Geez, you're really letting me down here, son. Your sister always loved playing with her old man! Oof, I just called myself old on accident...

"Stop trying to push that game on our children, dear." Cecily defended her son from me, "Nelly liked playing it, so I let it slide with her, but it's obvious Cene isn't the thinking type."

"How can you even say that without covering his ears?" I sighed, "Besides, no one's born smart. You get that through hard work, education, and practical puzzles."

"Meil was born smart, though." She refuted, "So was Nelly. I mean, no matter how you slice it, she's keeping up with him in her studies even though she's so young. I know I couldn't ever do that at thirteen."

"Yeah, that's because you didn't play chess as a child." I shot back, "Of course you'd have difficulty studying in Simpleton, whereas someone like me could easily reach the top ranks in say, an engineering major."

"You calling me dumb?" A dark and scary aura emanated from her, "Besides, I'd kick your ass in a physical education major. Hell, I'd know more than the teachers, surely."

"They don't have a physEd major, dummy." I corrected her with an admittedly snobby attitude, "And they don't have teachers there either. That's strictly a BasicEd thing. In Uni it's all professors."

"Same difs, come on." She lightly punched me on the shoulder, "But then, what are my options when it comes to majors?"

"You're interested in enrolling?" I chuckled, "I don't think we have the funds for all three of you."

"No, just a hypothetical." She suggested an adorable idea, "We never did get to experience going to school together, and in the novels I read, I always liked the student life as a couple pictured in the stories."

Damn, that does sound nice... We could leave Cene in the Saints' care and enroll in the same University. Our interests somewhat align with one another's, so it wouldn't be too farfetched, and we could even rent a dorm room together. I'm sure the cramped space would add for a completely new experience in our private life too, heheh... Ah, but all those lofty dreams don't mean squat when we can't afford it. We'd have to pawn off everything in the house, including the house itself for just one person, much less two.

"Oh, but if I Materialized stuff to pawn off..." I actually considered the possibility for a moment, "N-No, then I'd be stealing from someone in the world! That's theft, a total no-go!"

"What are you babbling on about?" She pouted, "Tell me all the majors!"

"A-Ah, right." I began listing them off, "Well, there's 5 Universities, all made for different aspects of education. There's Banas University of Fine Arts, Voltimir Tech, University of Langbridge (Languistics), Sodom's School of Philosophy, and in the dead center of all four - Dimitri Uni."

"That's the one Nelly and Meil are in, right?" Cecily then got even more fussy, "But hold on, isn't Voltimir and Dimitri practically the same thing? Dammit, can't they just turn one into a PhysEd themed school?"

"I don't think any of the students there would particularly sign off on that petition..." I chuckled weakly.

"If they have any complaints, they can duke it out with me." She flexed her biceps in a showy and boisterous manner, "I'll take them all on and then we'll see whose opinion is better!"

"Um, hey, so..." Cene interrupted our meaningless chatter with a question, "Is thewe anything I can pass the time with?"

"Count the seagulls around the ship." I offhandedly mentioned.

"Oh, that sounds fun!" He happily began counting as many as he could see in his field of vision, "One, two... Hey, stop moving! Ugh, gotta stawt ovew now! One..."

Eh, at least I don't have to worry about paying for this one's tuition...