Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 21 Congratulations, Traveler

If Alex could move right now, then he will do his best to punch that smirk off from Clint's smug face.

Too bad he's already paralyzed.

He and Alina could only let out groans of protest as they glared at Clint with their eyes.

"Yo chill… it's just a joke!" Clint said as he raised his hands defensively. "Tsk, people these days can't even take a joke! What happened to our society?"

"....."

"Well anyway, congratulations! Both of you defeated a Class SS Intruder, and this guy…" Clint said as he looked at the headless corpse of the old kid.

"This kid was sent by that sleazy bastard, right?" Clint suddenly seethed with rage as he began to trample on the headless corpse.

"You. F**king. S**t!" Clint enunciated each word with anger with every kick that he made on the corpse.

"You. Dare. Spy. On. My. Niece? You. Really. Are. Pushing. It! If. It. Were. Not. For. My. Restriction. I. Would. Have. Been. The. One. That. Killed. You!"

If Alex could wince, he could have done so by now.

As for Asteria, she could only look at the raging Clint with worship as she muttered,

"Wow, this guy looks scary as hell."

"Hooo…" Clint let out a deep breath as his smug smile returned. "Now I am refreshed."

"...."

*******************

What happened after that was all a blur.

Clint called the majority of his gang to help on the rescue and retrieval operations of the people in the battle area.

As for Alex and Alina, they were brought back by Clint to his house.

They were then placed on two beds to accommodate their current state.

"So, these two will stay paralyzed for 12 hours?" Natasha muttered as she looked at the paralyzed Alina. Natalia, who was standing beside her mother, suddenly giggled as she said,

"Mommy, we can play dress-up with Big Sis Alina! She cannot stop us now!"

"Yes, she can't stop us right now." Both Natasha and Natalia grinned as they approached Alina with a scary glint in their eyes.

"....." Alina tried to use her Esper Ability, but even that was also restricted by her paralysis.

"There's a lot of dresses that I have bought for you Alina…" Natasha said in a sickly sweet voice. "It will be a waste if you don't wear it, right?"

"...."

"I'll take that silence as yes." Natasha said as she and Natalia brought Alina out of the room.

"Dress-up? Now I want to see that too." Asteria declared as she flew out of the room.

With those three women leaving, Alex realized that he was now all alone in the room.

Realizing that he has to spend 12 hours staring at the same piece of ceiling, Alex wondered if buying that Star-Crusted Dagger had been worth it.

"...…"

************

16 hours later.

Right now, both Alex and Alina had recovered from their paralysis.

Sounds of clacking utensils could be heard as the two of them were eating along with Clint and his family.

Alina was looking down on the floor as she ate while Alex tried to not look interested.

The reason for their strange behavior right now was caused because of a certain mother-daughter duo.

"Oh, this one is cute…" Natasha and Natalia giggled as they both looked at the pictures in their camera.

They spent the first 4 hours of Alina's paralysis playing dress-up with her.

They stopped after that time because they could feel the intense glare that was coming out of Alina.

But that 4 hours of dress-up provided Natasha and Natalia a lot of good materials.

"Alex, don't you want to see some of Alina's pictures?" Natasha crooned as she began to swing the camera at Alex's direction.

"You know, I had her wear this cowboy shorts with knee-high socks…"

"Let me see that!" Alex blurted as his head swiveled towards the camera.

But he was forced to lower his head as Alina gave him the death glare.

"Hmph, what is so good about legs?" Asteria muttered angrily as she saw Alex's reaction. "They are just used for walking!"

"You will never know their wonders…" Alex thought to himself as he gave an apologetic smile at Alina.

"Oh come on, can you just tease Alina about her pictures later? We are still eating here…" Clint said as he wolfed down his food.

Alina, who was the main subject of this conversation, had her head lowered more with her ears tinged red with embarrassment.

After a few minutes of eating, Clint suddenly let out a sigh as he looked at Alex.

"Alex." Clint's face suddenly turned grave while looking at Alex. "I need to talk to you and Alina later."

"Okay." Alina ignored her embarrassment as she and Alex wore grave expressions on their faces.

Everyone on the dining table continued eating quietly, as if their moods were affected by what Clint said.

****************

"You two were nearly killed there." Clint said as he rubbed his forehead wearily. "I know that you wanted to delay the lizard long enough so that it won't kill a lot of people. But seriously? You actually fought him by yourselves only?"

"Well regarding that master-" Alex was about to say something, but Clint raised his hand to interrupt him.

"I know what you are going to say Alex." Clint said as he gave Alex a glare that effectively shut him up. "You are telling me that because of that dagger of yours, you two can deal with that lizard easily. But were you able to fight against that lizard easily?"

"...…." Alex and Alina did not reply, as they knew the answer.

"Alina had her stomach slashed open by that lizard." Clint said as rage smoldered in his eyes.

"It was a good thing that I gave her a High-Grade Healing Stock at that time. As for you Alex, even if you were not injured, you were almost killed by that kid."

"I know that Alina has the responsibility to fight those Intruders, but Alina, you must also choose your fights." Clint said as he gave Alina a soft look.

"I know that you are doing all of these for your sister, but if you overdo it…"

"What I do for my sister is my decision alone. Its not like you can help me out anyway." Alina blurted out as she marched out of the room.

Her body was trembling, as if she was trying to contain all for her emotions right now.

Before leaving the room, she looked back at the two as she said,

"Don't follow me."

The door closed with a slight bang as Alina left the house.

"You. Go follow her." Clint said as he pushed Alex forward.

"But she said that we should not follow us!" Alex hissed in reply.

Upon hearing this reply, both Clint and Asteria shook their heads in disappointment.

"If a girl says that you should not follow her, that just means that you should follow her." Clint said while Asteria nodded in agreement.

"But…"

"I am already married, Alex." Clint said as he stared at Alex. "You should trust my advice. Trust me, you won't regret it."

"Ok…" Alex replied uncertainly as he bounded out of the house.

At the instant that Alex left, Natasha entered the room. Both Clint and Natasha gave tired smiles at each other as they said,

"Teenagers."

****************

It did not take Alex that long to trace Alina's tracks.

Even without using his Esper Ability, Alex could recognize a set of tracks that could only belong to Alina.

He followed this track closely, and after 10 minutes of walking, he saw Alina huddling inside a dilapidated building.

Alex started to approach the hut slowly, with him making sure to not make any noise.

But it seems like he was still detected as Alina's head swiveled in his direction.

"...…"

Alex's breath was taken away as he realized that Alina has removed her mask.

He has no words to use to describe what he was seeing right now.

Alina's face was like a finely sculpted piece of jade, both beautiful and attractive.

Her bright eyes, thin nose, and cherry lips made her beauty extremely ephemeral.

Only Asteria's beauty can match the beauty that Alex is seeing in Alina.

But that was not all that Alex could see.

He could also see two streams of tears flowing down from Alina's eyes.

Her nose was slightly puffy, and there are some sobbing sounds coming out of Alina's mouth.

Alex stopped in his spot awkwardly as he realized that the cold beauty Alina is crying.

"Well, she has been through a lot…" Alex thought to himself as he remembered everything about Alina's situation.

She had been forced to do almost anything for her sister, and her extremely slow progress has been extremely frustrating to her.

For someone as young as her to carry this heavy burden Is just unfair.

It is already impressive that Alina was able to hang on until now.

"Why did you follow me?" Alina said as she wiped away the tears with her forearm.

This action of hers looked both sad and adorable to Alex. Alex's heart began to ache, as he could not help but feel sad for Alina too.

"....." Alex knew that anything that he will say right now will just rile Alina up, so he decided to answer her through his actions.

Alex approached Alina quickly before enveloping her in his hug.

"She's so warm…" Alex thought to himself as Alina's soft and lithe body was pressed against his.

Her perfume, which smelled like jasmine, began to tickle Alex's nose.

Her hair smelled extremely fragrant too, and Alex had to do his very best to not sniff her hair right now.

Alina tried to struggle out of Alex's hug, but Alex held on as he whispered to her,

"You did great Alina. Nobody is blaming you for what happened. We all support you…"

Alina's tremblings began to slow down as Alex continued whispering encouraging words to her.

In the end, she began to hug Alex back as she cried loudly in his chest.

Alex ignored the wet feeling in his clothes as he patted Alina's back.

Asteria, who saw everything that happened, could only rub her nose in incredulity as she said,

"Congratulations for raising your first romance flag, Traveler."

"...….."