Otherworld Adventure

Inside one of the inn"s rooms, Cecil was sitting down at a table glaring down at a map. He was thinking and planning the quickest route for him to make a round trip from Revertia Holy Kingdom back to Regulus.

He broke from his train of thoughts when someone suddenly hugged him from behind and began to gently stroke his head.

"What"re you thinking about so hard, darling?"

"It"s nothing, Seri...I"m just thinking about our next step... Now that we"re here, we have to go our separate ways for a bit..."

"Mhm... you already decided upon that a long time ago, when will you be leaving?"

"...Tomorrow, the earlier I go, the earlier I can get back."

"Alright."

"I"m counting you Seri to take care of the kids."

"Haha~ they aren"t kids anymore, y"know!"

"Tsk, they are in my eyes! My stupid apprentice and that useless guide... just why did we even take them with us?"

"You"re the one who let them~ and please remember, the guide is now our family"s butler y"know~"

"Please don"t remind me..."

Serilla sat down on Cecil"s lap and wrapped her arms around him. Serilla had grown into a beautiful woman and through some ups and down, Cecil was finally able to appreciate the two treasures he had in his arms.

Looking at the woman in his arms, the young Serilla had matured, she had much more womanly features and her eyes were especially enchanting to him. Her personality had also mellowed out and she was no longer the teasing big sister-type. She instead began to feel like a mother to everyone in the party. She patiently took care of everyone and made them feel safe, it was like wherever she was, that was home.

Another change was that on Serilla"s hand, there was an additional ring besides her spatial ring. It was the beautifully crafted silver ring she was wearing on her left hand"s ring finger and as for what this ring represented, it was the unshakeable and unbreakable bond between her and the man she was wrapping her arms around, her husband, Cecil Silvaria.

Lucia also had a similar ring on her finger as well. As for why this happened, it was obviously because Cecil had finally popped the question and they got hitched.

He didn"t understand how marriages worked on Alterna nor on Earth for that matter, but apparently in Alterna, all one had to do was report to an administrative body that they were going to get married, go to a temple, receive a blessing, and be officially registered as a lawfully wedded couple.

He had found out about this during his time in the Machina Reggio Empire. Cecil thought long and hard about things before finally deciding that he should just marry the two girls after going through a couple of events that finally made him aware of the feeling called jealousy.

Cecil didn"t understand about the certain steps to a marriage, so when he "proposed" it was more like he declared that he would marry them, and so obviously, it was kind of lack l.u.s.ter.

The girls wanted something romantic, but they got something closer to a declaration, not a heart-throbbing romantic proposal. They did get mad at him, but the two were happier at the fact that Cecil himself had taken the initiative to marry them. They quickly went through the procedures of their marriages while in the Machina Reggio Empire. So for 3 years now, Cecil with Lucia and Serilla were officially married.

There was no fancy ceremony or anything. It was just the ceremony for the blessing with the Empire"s official overseeing it and registering their marriage, and that was basically it. The only witnesses to their double wedding were Silver, Yuna, the Machina Reggio official, the priest who blessed their wedding and Cecil"s newly appointed apprentice, but the girls weren"t sad, instead they were elated at becoming Cecil"s lawfully wedded wives and immediately called their family and friends to tell them about the good news.

On Lucia"s side, everyone was only happy for her, but Serilla"s side was a little th.o.r.n.y. Apparently, mother Celia wanted to gut Cecil now, however Serilla subdued her mother by saying that she was pregnant and she would get a grandchild soon and if she wanted more, then she had to accept that she was now married to him.

Of course she wasn"t pregnant, but it did make mother a little more accepting of Cecil. However, Celia wanted them to come back home so they could conduct a ceremony. The party only promised that they"d come back some time in the future.

"Darling~ we"re so close to finding your family, so can we have a child now?"

"Eh?"

"C"mon darling~ you promised!"

"S-slow down a little Seri! W-we"re still very young y"know... wait, don"t tell me you"re already..."

"I"m not, dummy. You did have Lucia place that contraceptive magic array on me...so how can I get pregnant?"

"O-oh... W-well, I"m not saying I don"t want you to get pregnant, but you know how dangerous our journey is! And besides, I"m still not even sure I"ll be able to find them in those two Kingdoms! It was only a clue I got from a future vision, but remember, the future is ever changing!"

"Okay, okay~ but, we can do it...right?"

"Uhm...it"s still kind of early?"

"Lulu already gave me the green light, she and the rest are out gathering info and buying supplies! And besides, I"m~ in~ the~ mood~"

Hearing this, Cecil carefully picked Serilla up and walked over to the bed. She smiled enchantingly at him and this smile only served to stoke his fire.

******

When Lucia and the rest of the party came back from their shopping and info gathering, they all gathered together at a restaurant close to the inn they were staying at.

Inside of the restaurant"s private room, the Wanderers had all gathered together. Cecil and his two wives, Lucia and Serilla, were sitting together, Yuna and Silver were sitting together and there were 2 additional people in the room as well.

The first one was a young man in his early teens sitting alone by himself. He had a delicate build and was wearing a thick black robe. His head was in a book and if you looked at the contents, they were ancient magic runes and formations; the knowledge that Cecil had taken out from the World Tree"s library.

The other one was a man who looked to be in his late 20s. He had a suit on and was standing like a guard next to where Cecil and his wives were sitting at as he waited for Cecil to address the party.

"Everyone, today we"ll be discussing about our plans from here on out. First of all, I"ll be splitting the party into two. I"ll be heading over to the Revertia Holy Kingdom while Lucia and Serilla will continue looking for information about my family members in Regulus. We"ll each head towards the 2 Kingdoms" capital cities and look for info there."

"Hm~ this is expected, so who"s going with you and who"s remaining here with us?" Lucia asked as she popped a grape-like fruit into her mouth.

Cecil looked up at the teenager and said, "Ren, you"re coming with me." He then turned towards Silver and Yuna, "Silver and Yuna as well."

He looked at the man sitting next to the teenager and said, "Quinn, I leave my 2 wives in your care."

The man in the suit responded politely with a bow, "As you wish, my Master."

"Finally, we"re separating from these two noisy women—O-ow! That"s my head!" The teenager named Ren responded as he glared up at Lucia who had flashed over next to him and given the kid a knock on the head.

"That"s what little boys get when they"re rude."

"Cih..."

"Oh, now you"re scoffing at me? Looks like you need some disciplining!"

"N-no! I-I"m sorry, I"m sorry!"

"Hmm... you better not misbehave knowing that you"ll be away from us!" Lucia replied.

"Lulu, that"s enough~ let poor little Ren off the hook, he"s still just a child," Serilla spoke up in Ren"s defense.

"I"m 14 this year..." Ren retorted in a very small voice.

"Tsk, naughty children need to be disciplined, don"t think that just because you"re Cel"s disciple that I"ll let you off easy!"

Ren only crossed his arm in dissatisfaction, but ultimately didn"t say anything. He wasn"t going to win, he never once did. His master would bail him out sometimes, but even then, he"d still get scolded. On the times when his master did have his back, he"d implicate his master and they both would wind up getting scolded by Lucia.

Lucia returned to her seat in satisfaction seeing that the boy wasn"t behaving rudely anymore. Cecil only shook his head, but it was amusing to see Lucia act like a big sister. Looking at the two new members of the party, Ren and Quinn, the younger one was his disciple and the other one was his family"s self-appointed butler.

As for how they were able to join his party, we"ll have to take things back a couple of years ago.