Endless Journey: Infinite Realms

Chapter 144 Settling Down?

Chapter 144 Settling Down?

[[[2 Hours later.]]]

[[[Inside Mafioso’s Mansion.]]]

"What the hell did you just do there, Alex?" Alina, who looked calm 2 hours earlier, was now looking extremely pissed at Alex.

It seems like her calm reply to Alex earlier was just a facade to her true feelings.

She was not calm at all.

Instead, it seems like she was the angriest person at Alex now!

She slammed her hand on the table as she faced Alex directly. "Do you really have to be... like that?"

Alex, who was cowering under Alina’s mighty glare, could only let out a slight whimper as he shrank under her gaze. "Well, that is what I thought at that time... So I just decided to wing it."

"Wing it? WOW." If Alina looked angry before, now she was definitely livid. "You call your action to become a supervillain ’winging it’? Hah...."

"Well, at least we managed to obtain our objectives, right?" Alex slowly replied as he observed Alina’s face. "Right, right?"

"Shut up Alex." Alina said with her eyes seemingly emitting a fiery glow. "Even if you succeeded, that still does not condone what you did earlier!"

"I’m really sorry!" Alex said as he tried his best to placate the angry Alina. "I will cook you a feast later, so please cheer up now, ok?"

"......"

"Hmph, what a wimp." The dumb fairy Asteria muttered in the background as she watched the interaction between the couple. "And here I thought you could be scary...."

"You shut up too." Alina said as her gaze drilled on the fairy. "You may not know it, but I think you are also at fault with what Alex did earlier. And don’t you dare try denying it."

Alina then approached Asteria as she snatched the fairy’s jar of honey.

Asteria could only flounder in the air angrily as Alina hid her food. "Hey hooman! What the hell are you doing?"

"I am punishing you." Alina replied as she flicked Asteria’s forehead. "You are Alex’s Guide, so it is your duty to make him follow the right path. However, it seems like you are not doing your job properly..."

"Hey, I am giving him advice whenever he needs it!" The dumb fairy replied as she started swiping at Alina’s direction. "Alex just thinks too highly on himself, following his own tactics!"

"Well, I follow my tactics because they always work." Alex replied in a proud tone. "So, there is no problem if I follow my plans."

"But how long do you think will your ’plans’ help you?" Alina scornfully replied as she gripped Alex’s arm.

"As long as I want them to." Alex confidently replied, but that confident expression in his face disappeared as he saw Alina’s look at him.

Alina, whose face was entirely concentrated on Alex now, tightened her grip on Alex’s arm as she slowly said,

"Alex, no matter how good your plans are, there will still come a time that your plans will fail. Once that happens, it will be you that will suffer the most..."

"..."

Alex tried to formulate another reply, but he stopped as he saw the expression on Alina’s eyes.

"..."

Alina’s eyes were full of worry and nervousness.

Alex’s heart felt stabs of guilt after seeing Alina’s worry and fear, knowing that it was him who caused that.

"Everytime you do something risky, I fear... that you will screw up, Alex." Alina slowly said as her eyes began to tear up. "Alex, I’m afraid... I’m afraid of what your plans can do to you if they fail!"

"I..."

"I respect your skills, so I will not object to any of your plans, Alex." Alina said as she tried wiping her eyes. "But please, please be careful with what you do! I don’t want you suffering the same fate that my sister did! You... you are the only one that I have here!"

After saying these words, the tears on Alina’s face started to flow freely, with Alex fumbling as he tried to wipe Alina’s tears.

"..."

Alex knew that explaining himself is pretty impossible now, so he did the next best thing that he can do.

Alex swooped in as he hugged Alina tightly, with him ignoring the wetness of Alina’s clothes. He stroked Alina’s back in a soothing motion as he enjoyed Alina’s warmth and fragrance.

"I’m still here Alina." Alex said in a cooing voice. "Just like what I promised before, I will never ever leave you alone. Even if death wants to separate us, I will do my damn best to prevent that! That is how important you are to me!"

"Okay..." That was Alina’s only reply as she hugged Alex back.

"What a cheesy line." Asteria muttered in the background. Alex and Alina of course ignored that.

Both of them stayed in their positions for around a minute more before an awkward cough forced them to break up.

Alex and Alina looked at the source of the sound, and they saw Queen Mother looking at them with her right eyebrow raised.

"If you are done on your courting rituals, then you two should join me downstairs." Queen Mother said as she ignored the exasperated sigh coming from Alex. "The Alchemists... and Lauren wants to have a talk with us."

"If they want to talk, then we will give them a talk." Alex said as he and Alina started to fix their appearances. "But give us a minute first, Queen Mother."

"I’ll wait for you two in the living room then." Queen Mother said as she left the room, closing the door with a light creak.

Alex let out a sigh after Queen Mother left, prompting Asteria to talk again.

"Stop sighing every damn time, Alex. Sighing gives you bad luck, you know."

"Asteria, only those who believe in bad luck will get bad luck. I hope you are not one of those believers." Alex replied as he shifted to his tentacle form, wrapping Alina’s slender body with one of his tentacles.

Alex then slithered across the room, bringing Alina with him.

He lightly tapped the door with his tentacle, prompting it to give space for him to wiggle through.

The door then closed with another light sound as Alex left the room with Asteria trailing behind him.

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

"About damn time that you came here already." Lauren said as she stomped her foot angrily on the floor. "You knocked me out, kidnapped me, brought me here, and the first thing that you made me do is wait? How could I have trusted you?"

"Well, at least I brought your sister and aunt are here." Alex said as he scratched the back of his head. "That counts for something right?"

"Hmph, you just collected them to complete your collection." Lauren replied as Queen Mother attempted to placate her. "I forgive Queen Mother and Alina, as they do not know what you did. But as for you? Hmph, let’s just say that I am still itching to plant my foot on your face!"

And with that conversation, Alex knew that he’s still on Lauren’s hot list.

"..." While wearing a strained smile on his face, Alex started looking around the place that they were in.

They were currently inside Mafioso’s Mansion, which was Alex’s destination after he escaped from the Pantheon Members.

This place was the best place for Alex to reside in, with all of the Superhumans that Alex manipulated earlier.

But right now, all the Superhumans that went with Alex were partially free already.

When he arrived at Mafioso’s Mansion earlier, he undid his emotional manipulation on the Superhumans, and he then used Queen Mother’s knockout agent to make all of these Superhumans sleep.

Right now, all of these Superhmans were sleeping peacefully, with no possible dangers coming to them.

As for Lauren’s sister and aunt, they were currently in one of the best rooms in the Mansion, being assisted there by some of Mafioso’s maids, who were too afraid to disobey Alex.

As for the Alchemists, they were also in the mansion and they should have been talking to Alex now, but Queen Mother said that they became impatient waiting for Alex.

They were currently outside the mansion, doing god knows what.

It was at that point that Alex remembered that there was still someone that he still needed to check on.

"Wait, where is that chick anyway?" Alex mumbled to himself as he scratched this chin. "Did it get stuck somewhere? Oh right, it actually got small..."

Due to some unfathomable reasons, the chick that Alex saw earlier had shrunk down to the size of a human.

Maybe it was the injuries that caused the chick to shrink.

But when Alex healed the giant chick earlier, the chick still stayed at human size, which had Alex stumped.

"Duplicator... seems to be looking for someone." Queen Mother replied as patted Lauren’ head. "It was milling all around the mansion since earlier, chirping at the top of its lungs. It surely is looking for someone."

"What could it b-" Before Alex could say something more, the chirping sound that he was already used to suddenly sounded out behind him.

"Chirp, chirp!" The chick suddenly appeared above the stairs, with its beady eyes focused on Alex and Alina.

"Chirp, chirp!" The chick then rushed towards the duo, as it flapped its tiny wings merrily. "Chirp chirp!"

"Oh..." Alex heard Queen Mother exclaiming to herself as the chick paced itself around Alex and Alina. "Chirp, chirp!"

"Queen Mother, what in the world is Duplicator doing now?" Alex whispered to Queen Mother as the chick started nuzzling itself on Alex and Alina. "Does it want to eat us?"

"No." Queen Mother replied as she shook her head. "With my countless experiences on observing living creatures, I can somehow say that this chick is treating you and Alina as its parents."

"Chirp chirp!" The chick chirped out, as if it was agreeing with what Queen Mother said.

"Wait what?" That was Alex’s reply as he heard what Queen Mother said. "But what about Ambrosia? Isn’t Duplicator chasing her earlier? Shouldn’t she be the one that Duplicator treats as a parent?"

"Ambrosia is a different case." Queen Mother replied as Alina started tickling Duplicator. "Duplicator was chasing Ambrosia earlier because it wants to eat Ambrosia. Don’t ask me why. That’s what Duplicator wants to do earlier."

"...Now I feel like my actions earlier to save this chick is just impulsive." Alex said as he let out a sigh. "And now we have to treat this chick as our ’child’? Isn’t it way too fast?"

"So, what do you propose to do, Alex?" Alina said as she started petting Duplicator. "Don’t you want to take care of this chick? Remember, you saved Duplicator, so technically, it is also your responsibility to take care of it. Don’t tell me that you want to throw it away?"

"No, it’s not like that!" Alex replied as he saw the flame being back on Alina’s eyes. "It’s just that... I want my first child to come from you, Alina..."

"Ugh, that is so creepy Alex." Both Asteria and Alina said, with grimace present on their faces.

Even Queen Mother was grimacing too, while Lauren was just plain disgusted.

It was at that point that Alex cringed, realizing what he did wrong.

"Seriously, I know you are trying to woo Alina, but the way you say it is just wrong." Asteria said as Alina shook her head in exasperation. "How did you even capture Alina’s heart with that kind of vocabulary?"

"Mostly with my affection and lots of food." Alex replied honestly, knowing that Alina is watching him. "Nothing can beat that combination, not even corny lines."

"Some of the things that you said before are creepy, Alex, not corny. Learn the difference between the two." Alina said as she let out a sigh. "Maybe I should not allow Duplicator to talk to you. I don’t want Duplicator inheriting your linguistic skills."

"...."