Extra's Rebirth: I Will Create A Good Ending For The Heroines

Chapter 503 503: Gwen's Research [I]

"So these are your... children?" Stella blinked as she sat down on the plush couch.

On her lap was Lysandra, the small girl settling comfortably against her. Mynes was sitting nearby with Raphael on her own lap, the boy looking curiously at the new visitors.

Sybil sat on the couch next to Azel, trying as much as possible not to just jump on his body and cling to him like she desperately wanted to.

As for Lillia, she had excused herself to grab more orange juice from the kitchen, playing the perfect hostess.

"Yes, there's one more but she's still a baby." Azel said as he pressed his back against the couch, settling into a more relaxed position now that the initial greetings were done.

Stella looked at him with an appraising expression before turning her attention back to Lysandra and patting the girl's hair gently. The child definitely looked like Azel… the facial structure was unmistakable except she had vibrant purple hair instead of his silver, which made Stella wonder who exactly was the mother of this particular girl.

"I see... I have to admit, you're more sexually active than I was when I was younger." Stella said, hiding the small blush that bloomed on her cheeks. "You wouldn't mind having more children, would you?"

Mynes immediately gave her mother a sharp side glare. When in the hell had she decided to openly hit on Azel like this, right in front of everyone? It wasn't right at all, especially not with the children present.

"I don't mind at all." Azel said with an easy smile. "Wanna have some?"

It wasn't like he really had a choice in the matter anyway. As long as the girls wanted to get pregnant, it was his job as their lover and husband to give them what they wanted.

Besides, having more kids running around the house wasn't a bad thing at all.

It was like having your own brigade of loyal soldiers, in a way. Tiny, adorable soldiers.

"Well... I do want to have more, maybe two additional children. Mynes needs some younger sisters to keep her humble." Stella said with a thoughtful expression.

Mynes immediately threw a punch at her mother's shoulder with a completely red face.

"Stop flirting with him so blatantly... you old who—"

"Ah... ah... ah... there are children present here." Stella cut her daughter off with a warning tone, gesturing to Lysandra and Raphael.

Mynes averted her eyes in the other direction with an embarrassed huff. Raphael gave her a concerned look from his position on her lap, clearly confused by the sudden tension, and she bit her lip.

'I should be the one to have his child next...' The thought ran through her mind with surprising intensity. 'Not Mother.'

"So how are you feeling now?" Stella asked while sitting more properly, making sure Lysandra remained comfortable on her lap. "When we first saw you falling from the sky... you were all bones, barely more than a skeleton. It's nice to see you're back to your normal healthy state."

"Thank you for finding us." Azel gave her a sincere nod. "If you hadn't been searching in exactly that location... then we might not have been found as easily or as quickly."

Stella shook her head dismissively.

"While I'm glad we were the ones to locate you, the whole Empire including the Elf Queen were scouring the entire world for you systematically." Stella explained. "You would have been found regardless, though it might have taken longer. Also, I hope you don't mind being treated like a savior from now on."

"A savior...?" Azel asked with a genuinely confused expression, his eyebrows drawing together.

"The goddess had given the Saintess a direct revelation that you were the primary reason why the red skies cleared and the threat ended." Stella reported matter-of-factly. "The Church spread that information around to calm the populace, and now everyone in the world… including the Empires that we don't have diplomatic treaties with believe that you're a divinely-appointed savior."

Lillia came back into the room at that moment. She had decided to wear a small white apron that fit her petite frame perfectly and was now carefully holding a tray with fresh drinks.

"Will you have a drink, my lady?" Lillia asked respectfully as she extended the tray over to Stella with impeccable manners.

Stella took one of the cups with its straw and patted Lillia's head affectionately with her free hand.

"What a kind, smart girl you are... you don't need to call me 'my lady' though. You can refer to me as Mother, since we'll be seeing a lot more of each other from now on." Stella said warmly.

Azel didn't fully understand what she meant by that last part, but he let it pass.

However, Lillia looked directly at Azel for permission before responding. He had taught her very clearly against calling random ladies her mama without his approval.

It was an important title, not to be given lightly. Azel gave her a small nod of permission.

Immediately she turned back to Stella with a bright smile.

"Alright, mama..." She said sweetly and walked past to serve the others.

The simple word made Stella smile genuinely, warmth flooding through her chest.

'When was the last time I was called that with such affection...?' She thought nostalgically. It had been before Mynes had hit her "rebellious era" and stopped using terms of endearment. 'So cute...'

"So you're saying people look at me like I'm some kind of savior now?" Azel asked, bringing the conversation back around.

Sure, he'd wanted to be recognized as a hero eventually. But still... he was more or less certain that a lot of political bullshit would come from this new status. People would have expectations, make demands, try to use his reputation.

"That's correct." Stella confirmed while taking a sip of the orange juice.

She noted that it was really quite sweet and perfectly balanced. Mynes had the same pleased reaction to the taste.

Lillia arrived in front of Sybil next and extended the tray politely. Sybil took a cup with noticeably shaky hands, her exhaustion evident in every movement.

"I see..." Azel processed that information. "Is that all you came to tell me? Or is there more news I should know about?"

As for what the girls had told him so far, two months had passed in the outside world already.

He had finished the Underworld mission before a full month had passed completely down there, and then they had apparently spent an extra month unconscious in some kind of limbo.

Neither he nor the girls had any sort of memory of that missing time.

He had also been purposely ignoring his System tab for the Calamity Analysis results. Every time he thought about checking it, something in his gut twisted.

He was absolutely sure he wouldn't like what it said about Rene.

"Oh, there's definitely more news as well." Stella said casually. "I've decided that I'll be moving in with you permanently."

Azel's head snapped toward her with wide eyes.

"Say what?"

"I may not look like it currently, but I spent a good twenty years of my life working as a mental health doctor before I focused entirely on magical research." Stella explained calmly. "I can see it clearly in your eyes, Azel... traumatic things happened down there in the Underworld. And though you've come to terms with some of it intellectually, you still feel an enormous amount of regret and guilt."

Azel bit his lip but didn't respond verbally, which was confirmation enough.

"While I'm not saying it's inherently bad to feel regret or process those difficult emotions... if left unaddressed, it will directly influence and have negative effects on your mental strength as well as your overall lifestyle and relationships." Stella continued in her professional tone. "My job is to ensure that you're functioning at your absolute best, both magically and mentally. So I'll be living here with you until further notice, providing ongoing support."

"Sure, I understand." Azel said after a moment.

There was nothing he could say which would probably change her mind anyway. Mynes was notoriously stubborn when she made a decision so he could guess Stella was the same.

"What about the rest of you?" He looked at Mynes and Sybil.

"I'll be joining in as well, obviously... to make sure that Mother doesn't do anything inappropriate with you." Mynes said with a confident smile, though her cheeks were still slightly pink.

Azel raised an eyebrow at that justification. She was literally the most perverted one among them next to Sybil.

Azel turned his attention to Sybil and immediately noticed the pronounced dark circles under her eyes.

She looked absolutely exhausted, then she used her free hand to wrap around one of his hands tightly and desperately.

"You... you..." Her voice trembled with emotion. "We just got engaged and you immediately ran off to go and die, huh? I haven't slept properly even once in the entire two months you were gone."

She showed him her eyes more directly. They looked even worse than just tired… they were bloodshot and strained.

"I've decided something important... I'm not letting you run off anymore without me. I'll follow you everywhere from now on... everywhere, you hear m—"

Sybil suddenly slumped forward mid-sentence. The glass tilted dangerously out of her hand with the orange juice still in it. However, before it could hit the ground and spill everywhere, Lillia caught it smoothly with telekinesis.

The glass floated gently back to the tray.

They all looked at Sybil who had finally allowed herself to sleep, her body giving in to the exhaustion she'd been fighting for two solid months.

"You really do have women that love you deeply..." Stella observed quietly. "She has been flying all across the continent searching for you and barely stopping to rest. Seems like I have quite a lot of serious competition if I want to become one of your cherished wives..."

Azel really couldn't tell if she was teasing him or being completely serious. Why would a Great Mage of her considerable status and reputation go out of her way to become one of his wives?

He decided he just had to take it as a joke for his own sanity.

"Have you already packed up your things?" Azel asked, changing the subject.

Stella waved her storage ring with a casual gesture. Several large bags of luggage immediately appeared in the air around her, floating weightlessly.

Azel's eye twitched as he counted them. Had she literally packed her entire mansion into that ring?

"How exactly do you plan to fit all of that into a single bedroom?" He asked with mild exasperation.

"I'll think of something creative." Stella replied with supreme confidence, then stood up gracefully.

Mynes stood up as well, adjusting her grip on Raphael.

"Alright hubby... let's get ourselves settled in properly." Stella said while raising Lysandra up in her arms.

She looked down at the girl with a charming, warm smile.

"Wanna help me get settled into my new room?" She asked sweetly.

Mynes held Raphael more securely in her own arms.

"Sure, I'll help mama." Lysandra gave an enthusiastic nod, then looked back at Azel with suddenly serious eyes. "Papa, don't run away again while we're upstairs..."

"Got it, I promise." He said with a reassuring smile.

He gave Lillia a meaningful look and she immediately understood. Lillia nodded once and Sybil's sleeping body began floating gently as it was covered by Lillia's purple magical energy.

"Make sure that she gets her own comfortable room... and sleeps well without being disturbed." Azel instructed.

"Yes papa, I'll take good care of her." Lillia said seriously, treating the responsibility with appropriate gravity.

They began walking upstairs together… Stella with Lysandra, Mynes with Raphael, and Lillia guiding Sybil's floating form. Only after all of them had completely disappeared from view up the stairs did Azel finally stand up from the couch.

'I have a strong feeling that if I don't do this exploration now, then we won't get another chance for quite a while.' Azel thought as he looked directly at Gwendolyn's invisible ghostly form.

There were simply too many women in the house now, and he was one hundred percent certain they would all want to cling to him later today.

This was his window of opportunity.

"Follow me, Az." Gwendolyn said and began floating purposefully in a specific direction.

He followed her lead as she navigated through the mansion. She led him to a staircase that descended to the basement level.

There was a small collection of musty old books here arranged on a dusty shelf, clearly untouched for years.

Gwendolyn exhaled with something like relief.

"Good. It's still here exactly where I left it." She said while floating over to examine the shelf more closely. "Drag out the Black book from the collection."

"Which black one specifically? All of them look black to me..." Azel said, squinting at the shelf.

All of the spines were indeed black, though they were subtly different shades of black when he looked more carefully.

Gwendolyn exhaled with slight exasperation. "Pick the black that looks like a shadow... Black has many different shades, you see. And even though a shadow appears black, it's more like an abyss that's endless and—"

He simply reached out and drew out the very darkest book on the shelf. It slid free smoothly.

There was a moment of silence as mechanisms clicked.

Then the entire shelf parted down the middle like a door, revealing a hidden staircase leading deeper underground.

"It was actually pretty easy." Azel muttered.

"Not really that easy, especially if you don't know what specific shade you're looking for..." Gwendolyn corrected. "If you had gotten it wrong even once, then the magical path would have been locked for an entire year as a security measure. I am very strict with protecting my research."

"I see..." Azel said as they descended the newly revealed staircase.

The hallway began to light up automatically with mana-powered illumination in old-fashioned lanterns mounted on the walls. The flames flickered to life one by one as they passed, creating a path of light.

They reached the bottom of the descent and entered what was clearly a private study and laboratory. Several more lanterns lit up simultaneously, revealing the full scope of the space.

There were many research materials here… shelves packed with books and journals, multiple work tables, testing tubes and alchemical equipment of various kinds and there, prominently displayed on the side wall, was a portrait.

It was a portrait of Gwendolyn when she was still alive, painted in exquisite detail.

"Damn, your breasts were always this impressively big." Azel muttered as he studied the painted woman.

Though the portrait was beautiful and he had also seen her in Anastasia's memories, she couldn't be compared to the Gwendolyn floating beside him.

The ghost version seemed somehow more vibrant, more alive despite being dead. She looked genuinely happier now than the serious woman in the painting.

There was a sudden creak from the shadows in the corner.

Then something emerged from the darkness rapidly, jumping directly at Azel and tackling him over. He fell backward, genuinely surprised. He hadn't noticed any presence at all.

It wasn't something particularly large though. The creature looked remarkably similar to Pooch, the Silverhain furry familiar that he had given to Veyra as a companion except this one was made entirely of living shadows.

Gwendolyn seemed to immediately recognize the shadow creature despite the years.

"Samantha..." She said in her ghostly form.

To her surprise, the shadow familiar actually turned in her direction, somehow sensing her presence despite her being invisible to most.

"Woof!"