Chapter 381
CHAPTER 381
GENES
"Brother Lino, look, look!" the young Criador cried out as he licked his rosy lips and swung across an empty parchment with a quill, scribbling lines at random . "Like brother, he he he!"
"Ha ha ha ha, really, just like me," Lino laughed, ruffling his hair . "No, no, Cae"s way, way better than me . Sheesh, in a few years you"ll put me out of the business!"
"He he he~~"
"Ah, what are you two ruffians doing?" Ella suddenly walked into the room, carrying a tray with two cups of smoldering tea, placing it down as she sat next to the two .
"Drawing like brother!" Criador cried out as he continued scribbling .
"All the makings of an array master!" Lino nodded proudly .
"If you think I"ll let my son spend decades cooped up in dusty rooms studying lines so he can torture his wrist until he dies . . . you"ve got another thing coming . " Ella warned sternly, taking a sip of the tea .
"You look well," Lino said, smiling gently . "You"ve finally worked off that extra weight . "
" . . . say what?"
"I mean--no, wait, that"s exactly what I mean . You"d gotten so d.a.m.n fat while pregnant, you were d.a.m.n near close to evolving into a whale . "
" . . . is that how you talk to your mom, huh? Do you want a beating?!"
"Hey, I just said you"d gotten fat, not ugly! Sheesh, what"s with all the women I know and their anger issues . "
" . . . so, let me get this straight," Ella smiled strangely suddenly . "All these women you know are angry, right?"
"Right . "
"And they all have you in common, right?"
"Right?" Lino mumbled, his eyes turning into slits .
" . . . can you see the problem?"
" . . . I don"t pay enough attention to you gals?"
" . . . aah, your skull is too thick for this world," Ella chuckled bitterly as Lino grinned . "How have you been? Did you find anything in the Prison?"
"Eh, just some minions," Lino mumbled . "Nothing we can use . How"s relocation going?"
"We"re halfway through," Ella replied . "We should be done by a fortnight . "
"Hmm, good . Better safe than sorry," he said . "Any surprising upstarts?"
"A few," she nodded . "But, we"re still working on them . Don"t worry about that . Oh, right . Ty sent us a report saying that the Emperor had finally struck a deal with someone . "
"Eh, let him . It"s not yet his time . "
" . . . do you ever plan on telling us what goes on in that pretty head of yours?" she asked, caressing Criador"s hair gently for a moment .
"Hey, I"m an open book! Ask and ye shall receive!"
" . . . you met up with her, didn"t you?" Ella suddenly asked, her tone turning serious .
" . . . I have . "
"And? What do you think?" she probed .
"El"," Lino smiled mysteriously . "You know I"ve only got eyes for Hannah . "
" . . . eh, you can be honest," she chuckled strangely . "She"s not here . "
" . . . we"ve gotten engaged . "
" . . . huh?" Ella"s shocked expression caused even young Criador to look up in wonder at the two .
"I asked her to marry me on our way over, and she said yes . " Lino said, smiling .
"Y--really?!"
"Yeah . . . "
"Ha ha ha, congratulations!" Ella lunged over and hugged him tightly, corners of her eyes growing teary . "You big lad!" she pulled back, slapping his shoulder gently . "When did you go off and turn into a proper man, huh? Wait, did you get her pregnant? Oh my . . . this is big--"
"Yo, hey, you"re spiraling," Lino snapped his fingers in front of her until she came back to . "I didn"t get her pregnant . I just . . . decided it was time . "
" . . . now or never, huh?" she mumbled in a strangely sad tone .
"Eh, a little bit," he said, taking a deep breath . "But . . . mostly because I"ve seen it all El" by now . "
" . . . you two are really a match made in heaven," Ella suddenly chuckled . "Thinking back on what Eggor and I had to go through till we got together . . . aah, you make it look all too easy . "
"Ha ha ha . . . " Lino laughed lightly, taking out a bottle of wine and two gla.s.ses . "We do, don"t we?"
"Do you two ever even fight?" she asked, taking the gla.s.s from Lino .
"Of course we do," he shrugged . "I know it may not seem like it, but . . . we"re actually very different people . "
" . . . how so?" she quizzed .
"I"m a leader, and she"s a ruler," he said, smiling lightly . "I can"t tell you how many times she scolded me because I went into something without thinking it through, and I can"t tell you how many times I"ve scolded her because she tends to overthink . . . f.u.c.king . . . everything . . . "
" . . . well, she has to think for the two, so I don"t envy her . "
"Don"t you too?" he grinned for a moment .
" . . . yeah, us gals really have it tough with idiots like you and that big-head . "
"Daddy!!" Criador suddenly cried out as Ella and Lino burst out into laughter .
"O-oh my G.o.d, ha ha ha ha, why, why wasn"t he in here to hear that . . . ha ha ha ha, he would have broken down crying . . . " Lino mumbled, short of breath from laughing .
" . . . oh, right . What was that about genes and what not?" Ella suddenly asked, seemingly having just remembered .
"Oh, that? Edith taught me some," Lino said . "The make-up of a human body, from things we can"t even see, to the largest ones . Like Cae, for instance," Lino said, picking him up . "His hair"s black because he inherited Eggor"s gene, but his eyes are blue, just like yours, since you pa.s.sed it on him . It"s the small stuff, but it adds up eventually to our entire selves, even who we are beyond our physique . "
" . . . could it really be that they"ve figured out a way to purify Bloodlines by doing that?" Ella mumbled, frowning .
" . . . it"s possible," Lino nodded . "If they"re able to locate deficiencies, isolate them and remove them, they could create a flawless genetic make-up . That"s not the real problem, however . "
"What is?"
"There"s nothing flawless in the entire world," Lino said, smiling lightly . "Even if they create a perfect string of genes, they will mutate, creating imperfections . "
" . . . do they know that?" she questioned .
"Probably . I guess that they"ll try to sell -- either the purified Bloodlines or their services . You should take Cae and visit your Sect," Lino added . "Ask around . "
" . . . you"re really asking me to use my son -- your own little brother -- as a way to do a job?"
"Hey, he"s gotta start contributing and such . "
"Yes! Yes! Cae will help! Will help!"
"See? Even he"s excited!" Lino exclaimed, ruffling the boy"s hair .
"What about you?"
"What do you mean? I"ve got a wedding to attend, woman . "
"Eh?! You"re gonna hold it here?"
"Of course . Oh, right, you better start helping Hannah . That woman has too many ideas and way too few restrictions . She . . . she actually suggested . . . she actually suggested creating a choir of a thousand identically-looking children so they sing while she walks down the aisle . "
" . . . . s-she . . . he he, she . . . she must be joking . . . " Ella mumbled nervously .
"Oh, yeah, sure," Lino grinned . "She"s a joker alright . She also wasn"t joking when she said she"s invented a game called "Pocketeer" in which every guest of our wedding will be forced to hand over the contents of their pockets and void treasures as "gifts" . "
" . . . . "
"And she was also definitely joking when she said that she will have Cae ride on a burning lion as a ring-bearer . "
" . . . that insane b.i.t.c.h! As if!" Ella jumped to her feet suddenly, startling Lino and young Criador .
" . . . y-yeah . . . so . . . off you go . . . " Lino covered young boy"s ears as Ella mumbled quick and derogatory curses, quickly leaving the room . Lino sighed deeply and leaned closer, just next to the young boy"s ear .
"See that, Cae?" he said . "Whatever issues you end up having, and you"ll have plenty because your entire family is just . . . f.u.c.ked up . . . don"t, I repeat, do not develop mommy issues, okay? You do not want to spend your entire life chasing after women exactly like your mom . She"s gorgeous and amazing, but you have to be an egghead like your dad to handle her, alright? And, mark my words, I ain"t letting you become an egghead, alright? Oh, also, don"t go after someone like big sis, alright? Go after someone . . . ah, right, I"ll introduce you to bis sis Ally, alright?"
"Ally?" Criador mumbled innocently, his eyes sparkling in wonder .
"Yes, Ally . Marry someone like her, alright? Docile, loving, calm, understanding, compa.s.sionate . . . that"s the girl you want to marry!"
" . . . what . . . what about big bro?" the young boy asked suddenly .
"What about me?"
"Why . . . marry big sis Hannah?"
" . . . why?" Lino grinned sheepishly for a moment before replying . "Because . . . big brother loves her very much . Sure," he added lowly . "She drives him insane from time to time, and gets on his nerves, and yells at him and bickers with him constantly and repeatedly tells him he"s a moron . . . but, I can see her care for me in everything she does . And, in my heart I know, she will be with me no matter what . . . no matter where . . . no matter when . Truth is . . . find someone like that, Cae . Like your mom found your dad . . . and like I found big sis . Someone . . . who will always be by your side, no matter what . "
" . . . like . . . like big bro?" young Criador mumbled, seemingly confused .
" . . . ha ha ha, I suppose so, yeah," Lino chuckled . "Like big brother . . . "