Supreme Magus

Chapter 4482: First of its Kind (Part 2)

Zinya managed to turn even a boring Accumulation session into a competition.

"I have to admit that I’m a sheep to her wolf." Kamila sighed. "I take magic one day at a time to learn how to take care of my children, whereas Zin practices magic as if she has to prove something to the rest of Mogar."

"Sounds like those Snow Thrower magicos I worked with." Lith replied. "Still, don’t worry too much. Everyone gets excited at first, but real discipline is hard to maintain when you have a busy life like you and Zin."

"That’s so true." Kamila replied. "If I were still working full time as a Constable instead of taking my maternity leave, I don’t think I’d have learned even one third of the spells I know, and my mana core would be yellow at best.

"Once Zin has to breathe on for hours just to brighten a sliver of her core of a single shade, I doubt her enthusiasm will last long. Now, what were you saying about our date?"

"I’m way ahead of you." Lith replied. "I’ve everything planned already, but there’s nothing I can do if you don’t let me know when you can take some time off from your work as vice-coordinator.

"I can’t just kidnap you in the middle of a meeting and drop the children on Mom like a bad habit."

"It would be so romantic, though." Kamila pictured herself being swept off her feet and whisked away to a nice restaurant, ending the evening in an intimate location covered in rose petals.

"Right. Romantic." Lith snorted. "I can almost picture myself barging inside Jirni’s office and carrying you away in the middle of a briefing while you’re instructing Royal Constables all over the Kingdom.

"You’d become the butt of the jokes of your colleagues at best, and I’d throw hours of work and preparation in the gutter at best." Kamila swallowed hard as reality smashed through her idealized version of the events.

"Gods, if you did something like that during a tactical briefing, the damage to the investigation would be incalculable." She said in horror.

"And I’m not done yet." Lith tutted. "At that point, I round up our children and throw them at Mom while they are still calling our names and begging us not to abandon them."

"You monster!" Kamila snarled at the mere thought.

"Now answer me this. How romantic would you feel after I humiliated you in front of your subordinates and the last thing you heard were the desperate cries of our children?

"How would you respond to my seduction attempts, knowing that Ral, Val, and Ely think we are gone forever?" Lith asked.

"I think I’d be too busy trying to kill you to listen to a word you say." Kamila said after taking off the rose-tinted glass of her consequences-free fantasy. "After that, I’d run back home, reassure the kids that everything is alright, and try to salvage what I can of my work."

"My point exactly." Lith nodded. "Well, are you still interested in a spur-of-the-moment romantic trip?"

"Gods, no!" She said. "I’ll let you know as soon as Jirni can give me a few days off."

"Good girl." Lith patted her head. "See you later!"

’I hate it when he treats me like that, and I hate it even more when he’s right!’ Kamila grunted.

***

Kamila had to wait until the Kingdom got the situation with the Ishara under control before she could apply for leave. With Jirni taking charge of the Ernas region, Kamila was the only one with the know-how to direct and coordinate the investigations in the rest of the Kingdom.

When she was finally granted a short vacation, Lith and Solus were already done upgrading Thundercrash and had even stored enough materials in the tower to conjure a Divine Beast-sized railgun from the Workshop if necessary.

Only replica ingredients would be used, and they would only keep physical form within the tower’s area of effect, but if anyone dared siege the Verhen Mansion, it would be more than enough to make the enemy a nasty surprise.

"Mom, Dad, we’re about to leave. Is everything ready?" Lith asked.

"For the umpteenth time, yes!" Raaz said in exasperation. "We’ll be fine. We have half an army with us. Just go."

"It’s still not too late, Tista." Menadion said.

"Late for what?" Tista asked.

"To grow yourself a spine and ask me out." Menadion replied with a stern gaze while everyone else burst out laughing. "We could go with them for a double date."

"This is not funny, Ripha!" Tista blushed up to her ears. "Don’t you dare joke about this in front of Bodya. Even better, just drop it altogether!"

"What?" Menadion clutched her chest in mock pain. "All those beautiful things you said about my peerless beauty and my bosom, were they all an act to get yourself a pocket dimension?"

"No! I mean, yes!" Tista wanted to die, but the rest of her family found her situation incredibly funny. "I’m sorry. I let myself get carried away by Dragon Greed. Can we please forget about this? The joke has gotten old!"

"Then why am I laughing?" Aran clenched his stomach, gasping for air.

"That will always be funny, Auntie." Leria needed to cling to Abominus to keep standing.

"I don’t get it." Falco said, and his two siblings shrugged with him. "What part of this is funny, exactly?"

"You’ll understand when you grow up, little one." Leria patted his head just like Lith had done to Kamila, infuriating both her and Falco.

"Enough is enough, guys." Lith raised his hands for silence, and the room quieted down. "We all have Dragon blood in our veins, so I’d like to remind you that you too might struggle to control your Dragon Greed in the future."

"Thanks, little brother." Tista sighed in relief.

"So don’t be like Tista." Lith continued. "Learn from her mistake and show her some compassion, or she’ll be entitled to mock you along with the rest of us when your turn comes."

"I take that back!" She snarled.

"Also, before leaving, I’ve prepared a surprise for you." Lith activated the Mansion’s Warp Gate, ignoring his sister.

’If he called another band to throw one more parade to celebrate my alleged engagement with Ripha, I’m going to murder him!’ Tista thought.

Much to her relief, this time no musicians, bards, or jugglers came out of the dimensional corridor. It took her a handful of seconds to recognize the group of well-dressed people that were entering the Mansion.

The odd thing was that their clothes were fancy enough to be worthy of a gala, yet they lacked originality and looked the same. Moreover, those people looked familiar.

’Wait a minute, those are not gala clothes but work uniforms.’ Tista thought. ’Now I remember where I’ve seen these guys before. They all work at the Travelling Tavern!’

"Where are my cuties?" Dryna the Wyvern stepped through the Gate, confirming Tista’s suspicions.

She looked around the Mansion in a frenzy, clearly still under the effects of baby fever.

"Here they are." Lith pushed the stroller toward her. "Say hello to Auntie Dryna, kids."

"Hi." Valeron and Elysia waved their tiny hands, making the Wyvern squeal with joy.