"Careful now." I gently guided her down the rough rooty terrain, "I think we should be close to the bottom, just a bit more."
"Huff, huff... Yeah." She nodded in between ragged breaths.
This little hike down the Tree trunk's interior certainly took a toll on her stamina. I guess she's not used to it, but if she wanted an adventure, then she should've practiced her cardio a bit ahead of time. Eh, then again, it's not like she expected Nelly to get captured by some random old man. I don't think anyone did, for that matter...
"Wanna take a break?" I asked, "If we turn back, we can sit down at that little residential area we passed just now."
"Nah, turning back is a definite no." She shook her head, "We're close, I can feel it. Just... Just a bit more."
Hm. Well, her call. Though I do agree we're not that far away from the bottom, I think it's already morning by now. That is to say, I wonder if we'll even make it to Grim and Cecily by the end of the day. The islands are pretty close to each other, but that doesn't mean jack shit without a boat or a raft to cross it with.
"Oh." Anna stopped to look up at the scenery, "Yeah, this really is a wonderful place."
"Worth all that trouble you went through, I reckon?"
"Well worth it!" She smiled back.
Too bad it's probably not gonna last much longer. Yeah, I don't think she realized it, but our little crash landing kinda lit some of the leaves on fire. And if I've learned anything in life, it's that trees burn. No doubt about it, by the time we reach the island where Grim and Cecily are, the Tree will be no more.
"Ah, is something smoking up there?" She noticed a faint Grayish airflow.
"E-Err! Oh, Issei and Lem!" I pointed as I yanked her through the exit.
"What! Where!?" She looked around the area only to find no one there.
"Ah, my bad. Just some birds." I chuckled.
With an annoyed pout, she seemed displeased that I would raise her hopes for nothing, but at least it's better than having her find out such a beautiful piece of green architecture will soon be destroyed. If possible, I'd like for her to think it's not a fire, but there's probably no way around her finding out eventually.
"Wait, that's right. Those two should be somewhere around here, right?" Anna recalled, "Yeah, I think you said he jumped from the flying bike once he spotted Lem."
"If that's the case, we should go look for them and use the raft to cross the sea." I agreed, "Let's see, if the island is that way, then the raft they used to get here should be... Ah, there!"
Indeed, just down the path leading up to the Tree was a tiny beach that housed a docked raft on its sandy shore. The footprints going away from it prove they left to explore the Tree, but if that's the case, then we would have seen them, no? Hmm, they couldn't have gone anywhere else.
"Dear?" Anna called for me.
"Not now, I'm thinking."
"Ed."
"Honey, please wait a sec." I put my hand up to my chin, "Where could they have gone...?"
"If you don't turn around now, you'll miss it!" She stomped on the ground to get my attention.
"What! What could possibly be so-!?" I stopped shouting once I looked over, "Oh."
Standing on the raft, she picked up a note that was presumably left by those two. Right, makes sense that Issei would leave a message just in case one of us went to go look for them. Sheepishly, I stepped on the raft with her and read the letter out loud.
"A-Ahem, right." I cleared my throat, "To Lune, Cecily, Ed. If you're reading this, then we're already dead."
"Huh!?" Anna jolted.
"Hold on, let me finish." I stared back at her, "Ha-ha. Just kidding."
"That scared the crap out of me!" She fussed, "Who wrote that letter? I'm gonna kick their asses later for that!"
"Honestly, would we really care if those idiots died?" I voiced my opinion out loud.
"No, but I'd feel really bad for Eleanor, Othelia and Nelly." She figured.
I don't think Nelly would've cared either, to be honest. She's totally right about the other two, though. That being said, there's more written on the other side. Stupid Issei, to think such an ass is my...eugh, brother-in-law.
"For real though." I continued reading the rest of the message, "We met up with the Gods, so we're gonna hitch a ride with them to the island where the old man is. Just thought I should give you a heads up, y'know, so you don't go wasting time searching for us."
"That's... awfully responsible of him." Anna seemed just as surprised as I was, "Now I'm perplexed. Should I kick his ass or not?"
"Oh no, we're definitely kicking his ass." I explained, "Just not as much."
"Yeah, that's fair."
"Right." I finished reading the letter, "This raft is all yours. Might not be faster than the Auros express, but it'll do just fine in a pinch. See you there! -Issei"
I guess that settles that. We are to use this rickety raft and travel across this sea until we make it to the island where Lune and Cecily are. After that, who knows? Chances are, Issei, Lem and by proxy, Nelly are there too, so I guess we should also focus on staying high on alert. My Brown Iro isn't gonna be of much use here, since the animals don't seem to be all that friendly, and there shouldn't be any eavesdropping required. Either way, I'm sure us being there would help them more than if we weren't there.
"Hold on, so the Fighting God is here as well?" Anna tilted her head.
"Eh?"
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You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
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"Pfft! Bahahahahaha!"
"Hey, quit laughing!" Anna punched my shoulder, though it obviously didn't hurt at all, "How the hell could I have known that the Red guy was Auros!? I never met a God before!"
"You..." I could barely breathe from all the wheezing, "You legit badmouthed our Patron God for no reason 'cause you got him mixed up with another one!"
"Again, I never met Prylos nor Auros!" She puffed her cheeks out from all the pouting, "Geez, just shut up and row the damned raft."
Man, and here I was worried thinking her standards for male beauty were higher than a literal three meter tall hunk of gold and humility. Prylos, the legend, that guy is the definition of perfection in my opinion (go figure), so to hear her disagree with me when I said he's handsome as hell back in the Tree was a real shock. Thankfully, it turns out she just had him confused with Auros. That being said, I'm glad she at least agrees with me that that guy is ugly as balls.
"Y'know, it's not that easy to row all by myself." I pointed out, "If it was a boat, it'd be easier because of the leverage, but I have to do this standing up, with all the strength in my body being focused on not falling off."
"Oh yeah? Then what if I..." She stood up behind me, pressing her fingers to both my sides as a way to tickle me.
"Gah!" I yelped, "Dammit, I'll drop the oars if you do that!"
"Tickle tickle~!" She kept jokingly doing that until I couldn't stop laughing.
"Oi, stop that! Hey-!" I squeezed my arms close to me, not realizing I threw the oar high up into the air.
"Wait, crap!" She panicked once she saw it falling back down, preparing herself to even jump into the water to go retrieve it.
"Whoa, the hell are you doing?!" I grabbed her, refusing to let her take a dip, "That's dangerous, you'll catch a cold!"
The oar fell into the water, and just a few moments later, fell to the bottom of the sea. Who knows how deep this water went. Deep enough that we could no longer retrieve it, I'm sure. Welp, guess that means we're stranded here.
"...Dammit, I messed everything up again." She hid her face in shame, "Even though I promised not to, I... Ugh, I'm the worst."
"Don't beat yourself up. I can still row just fine with my arms." I laid down on the raft with a reassuring smile, "Hey, actually, this is way easier on my back, now that I think about it! I should be thanking you, honey!"
She saw through my ruse all too quickly, but I didn't care. Yeah, certainly this little flub of hers is gonna slow us down big time, but I made a promise to never again get mad at my wife over tiny details. Who cares, it's just a giant stick anyways. If things get too slow, I'll just jump in the water and push the entire raft from the back. We got options.
"You don't mean that." She ducked down, hugging her knees as she sat there next to me, "Sorry, from the start, I just kept making your guys lives harder. Hell, you probably would've been done with this whole ordeal had I just listened and not snuck in with you."
"No use regretting your choices once you've made them." I turned to her with a bright grin, "Besides, to be honest, I'm glad you did. In truth, we hadn't even made it to the island and I was already missing you like crazy."
She looked into my Eyes, gazed upon them for a solid few seconds before tearing up over something herself. She definitely felt bad about sneaking into the airbike like she did, but like I said, there's nothing to be ashamed about. Granted, she did make this mission a tad harder, but I like a challenge, so it's fine! Really!
"Dear." She smiled warmly, "You're awesome."
"Heh, I'm not all that." I felt the corners of my lips start to rise as well.
"No, really. You're an amazing person." She kept the high praise going, "I'm really glad I married you."
"You say that like there were other contenders." I joked, "Yeah, if a prince happened to have been passing by Stringwood, then I wouldn't have stood a chance."
"You're wrong." She shook her head, "If a prince, a king, heck, if a God approached me, I'd still have picked you."
"Putting someone above the status of Gods is a sin, you know?" I turned back to see her seated there, holding her stomach with a hopeful smirk.
"I never told you the reason I snuck in to be with you, now that I think about it." She uttered, "I'm pregnant."
Immediately, all the insecurity and doubt in my mind had left my body. For years now, I was certain something was wrong with me, or at least that I was doing something wrong. I made up excuses like that the time wasn't right, or that we didn't have a house of our own, but deep down I knew that Anna was dying inside from all her waning patience. We've been trying for some time now, but I was beginning to lose hope.
"A-Ah. Eh?" I rolled over, dumbfounded, to look at her properly, only to overshoot and roll right off the raft and into the water.
"Pfft! Hahahahaha!" She laughed at me from atop the raft as I swam up, still looking at her with wide open Eyes of disbelief, "I didn't expect you to get this surprised, seriously!"
"You're... pregnant?" I asked once more, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming.
"Yeah." She nodded, "Congratulations, dear. We're gonna be parents soon."
I... I better hurry it up with the rowing. I'm gonna be a father, even thinking that feels surreal. Wait, should I be rowing towards the hot zone, in that case? What if she gets hurt while we're on the island?
"I love you." She reached down to give me a peck on the lips.
"Y-You too." I shook away the anxieties, "Once we get home, let's celebrate."