Otherworld Adventure 366 Returning Home 3

"Well, well, so this is where you were big bro," Cecil called out after seeing his big brother walking over to him.

"Heh, took you a while to find me. Also, you flew past us earlier while you were chasing after those demons," Matheus replied to his brother after pulling him into a tight bear hug.

"Ah, those guys, seriously, pretty tasteless people. We meant no harm when we tried to approach them earlier. But they suddenly started yapping on about us being their prey and other hubris. All I wanted was to befriend them."

"Demons aren't that sociable with humans, Cecil... shouldn't you know that?"

Cecil shook his head and shrugged, "How am I supposed to know. I only read about them from books. I won't judge how they're like until after I see them for myself. But frankly... the books weren't too far off."

Seeing how dejected he looked, Matheus laughed and said, "Pfft, I bet you were only interested in why they were using their mana like how we do."

"!"

"Ah, I knew it!"

"...tch, so what? I was just curious. I mean, in a way, it's like we earthlings are demons but in a human form..."

"...What the—ah, you do have a point there..." Matheus said before thinking about the similarities of his race and the demons he had previously encountered.

If they looked past the human and demon part, then there wasn't much difference between their abilities as a race. The demons and the Earthlings were both able to directly control mana unlike the other races of the world that needed spells and incantations to bend mana to their will.

Cecil waved his hand in front of Matheus and called out to him, "Big bro, you there?"

"Hm? What?"

"You gonna introduce me to the beautiful young lady that followed after you?"

Matheus turned around and saw Celestina waiting there, just behind him. She tilted her head in question before smiling back at him. Cecil saw the exchange and raised a brow in amus.e.m.e.nt. He walked over to his brother and nudged him on the side.

"Hey~ big bro, don't tell me that's the one~?"

"W-what?"

"Hohohoho~ you and Gabe were always the mama's boy but to think that you'd find someone so close in build to mother! She's small, has a pretty ample chest, and she's pretty curvaceous. Hahaha, if you looked past her face, she's similar to mom!"

Matheus widened his eyes at his brother's words and quickly jabbed him in the gut.

"Gah!"

"Shut it, you d.a.m.ned idiot! She's right there! Are you trying to sabotage my relationship with her?! We only got together a week ago!"

"O-ouch... wh-what the h.e.l.l big bro?! Why'd you have to punch me?! Dammit, when did you get so strong?!" Cecil replied while holding his stomach in pain.

Matheus had unknowingly punched him with a mana infused fist. If he had his guard up, it wouldn't have hurt as much as it did now.

"S-sorry, I forgot to tell you, but I think I somehow got the hang of using Mana Burst...I think."

"Hm?" Cecil quickly recovered and looked his brother up and down. He activated his Mana Eyes and inspected his brother closely.

Seeing his eyes turn golden, Celestina was rather shocked while Matheus felt a little bit creeped out. He still wasn't used to seeing his brother's eyes change colors like that. If this was back on Earth, such ability was rather freakish and abnormal.

"Can you circulate your mana and activate Mana Burst?"

"Sure."

Matheus complied with his brother's request and circulated his mana. The faint golden aura that Cecil was very familiar with began to radiate out of his brother's body and this caused Cecil to smile excitedly.

After giving his brother a quick inspection, Cecil deactivated his ability and said, "Hm, well, your const.i.tution isn't the same as mine, but when you began circulating your mana, the mana began pouring outside of your pathways and into your body parts, so in a way, you're able to imitate my bodily const.i.tution. How'd you do it, big bro?"

"Well—"

"By almost dying," Celestina said from the side.

"Huh?"

"Eheh, it's a long story, but we were attacked by demons on our journey. I nearly died to one of them. A demon called Saravkibah. He was really strong."

"Ah, you mean that small fry leader. Tsk, he went on about continuing our battle or something. He said that he acknowledged me as a warrior and as a man for coming to find him. It looks like he was talking about you, not me."

"Y-you met him?"

"Yeah, but after one punch he flew far away and I didn't see him after that. Then his little buddies started attacking me when he was the one who requested for a 'friendly duel'."

"..."

"Anyways, I don't think he's dead, so you'll be able to face him again if they're unfortunate enough to encounter us again."

"Haha... good, I thought you already killed him. That'd be pretty stupid since I was looking forward to a rematch!"

"If you're fortunate enough, you'll get that rematch, but I hardly expect that will happen. Remember, once you get back to the Kingdom, you won't be as free as you are now."

"...Tsk, maybe I should stay here and—"

"Hahaha, brother, now that I've found you, do you really think I'll allow you to escape?"

"..."

Cecil smiled brightly at his older brother while he pulled out a rope from his spatial ring.

"Tsk, you don't need to do that. I'll come, I'll come."

"Good, it's better to take the path of least resistance. Besides, you already agreed over the call! So you can't take it back now!"

"I know, I know."

After their playful banter, Matheus introduced Cecil to Celestina and her sister, Cecilia. Cecil laughed when he noticed that their names were so familiar. Cecilia however was already staring at Cecil so intently with stars in her eyes.

"Y-you..."

"Hmm?"

"You're him..."

Cecil grew a little puzzled when he saw the girl move closer and closer to him. By this point, Cecil was hesitating on whether to step back slowly or remain in place.

"C-Can I touch you?" Cecilia asked.

"What the h.e.l.l?"

Lucia who was next to Cecil immediately exclaimed, "C-Cecilia?!"

"Eh? Lucia? Oh, I'm sorry. That was unsightly of me. Anyways, what I meant was that I wanted to say thank you, Mr. Hero."

"H-hero?"

"Yes! You saved me a while back, don't you remember, Sir Cecil?"

"...Sorry, but who are you again? Other than this being our first time meeting, I don't think I recall ever saving you," Cecil replied.

"Y-You forgot?!"

"...?"

Seeing the puzzled look on Cecil's face, Cecilia's mind went blank for a moment before she quickly recovered and started explaining their first time meeting, all those months ago when Cecil saved her and her people from the tide of monsters that were chasing after them.

"Oh! You were with those people from that carriage! Sorry, I forgot because I was quite furious back then and only wanted to vent my anger on the monsters that were chasing after you guys."

"O-Okay..."

"My family was being attacked by an unscrupulous nation while I was out so I was really angry. Anyways, since this is our first time officially meeting, it's nice to meet you."

"Y-yes, it's nice to meet you too."

Cecil nodded and was about to walk away but Cecilia immediately stopped him.

"W-wait!"

"Yes?"

"Uhm, I know this is our first time officially meeting but after you saved me I was really happy and always wanted to thank you, so please, accept my grat.i.tude!"

"Eh? O-Of course, but it's not worth mentioning. I didn't save you because I wanted to."

"I-It's fine. So please accept my grat.i.tude!" Cecilia said while presenting Cecil with a Unity Necklace.

Celestina, Matheus, Bart, and Oscar widened their eyes at this. Lucia was feeling a little skeptical since she felt a little threatened by the necklace that the girl was trying to give Cecil.

Matheus was just about to open his mouth to tell Cecil what that necklace represented, but his little brother had already replied to Cecilia, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can take that. It looks pretty important to you. I'll just accept your thanks. That's enough for me. Besides, what I did doesn't warrant your admiration or respect. I was only venting after all."

"Uh...okay..." Cecilia pulled back the necklace dejectedly.

Seeing Cecil reject Cecilia's necklace, Lucia released a relieved sigh. For some reason, she had a gut feeling that if her husband had accepted that necklace, things would have turned quite complicated.

The others who knew what that necklace was released a breath after seeing that Cecil rejected it. They were quite surprised to see their nation's High Priestess just propose to someone she just met and they were also astonished that she was rejected in the next moment.

Some felt incensed for her while others felt relieved. They didn't want their beautiful high priestess falling into the hands of another nation's young man.

Cecil wasn't aware that he had just dodged a bullet so when he turned around and saw the tensed atmosphere all around him, he only looked questioningly at Matheus. He walked over to his big brother and said, "Big bro, since we already found you. Let's head back home now?"

"Sure, are we going to the neutral city first? Cecilia already had someone go over ahead of time to notify them that we would be using the teleportation formation, or...?" Matheus glanced at Lucia and Yuna before continuing, "Are we going to use the Misty Gate?"

"Well, since we can use the teleportation formation, why not. After we get to Regulus, we can just head back with the Misty Gate. This way, we'll only need to jump 1 or 2 times."

"Okay, we'll do that then. By the way, how many times did you guys use a Misty Gate to get over here? It's only been a few days..."

"Well, we had to open a few Misty Gates, but with Lucia and Yuna switching in-between rest times, we were able to arrive here quite quickly."

"Wow..."

"Let's get going then?"

"Mhm."

Near the back, Cecilia had pulled Lucia over to her and began asking questions. She had been so smitten by Cecil earlier so she hadn't been thinking straight. The young man was her savior and the object of her admiration and affection so it wasn't too odd that she had been acting strange since earlier.

"L-Lucia, that young man, that's your husband?"

"Yes, that's right. I want to ask, why did you want to give him that necklace earlier?"

"Ah! I-I'm sorry! I wasn't thinking straight earlier! I'm so, so sorry!" Cecilia said while bowing.

"C-Cecilia, th-that's okay, but what does it mean for you to give that to Cel anyway?"

"Uhm, this is called a Unity Necklace. If a woman were to give it to a man, then it would be like announcing that the woman would want to 'Unite' with that man..."

"W-wait, so you're saying..."

"Yeah, I-I just proposed to your husband earlier..." Cecilia awkwardly said.

"..."

"I-I didn't mean to! If I was thinking straight and figured out that he was your husband, I wouldn't have done such a stupid thing, especially when it was right in front of you! Gosh, I feel so stupid, right now..."

While Cecilia was scolding herself, Lucia was feeling rather overwhelmed. This was the first time that her husband had suddenly been proposed to right in front of her. It was such an odd feeling. Also, she couldn't get mad after seeing how Cecilia was scolding herself.

"I-It's alright, you just weren't thinking straight. It's alright, really."

"T-thanks, Lucia...will you please forgive me?"

"Of course, I'll forgive you. I just find it quite funny to see someone propose to my husband right in front of me, hahaha..."

"Ugh... I can't believe I did something so stupid..."

"Don't worry, just take this as a funny moment in your life. We don't have to tell Cecil about it and let's just keep it a secret between us."

"Well...it's not a secret... Celestina, Matheus, and everyone else from my kingdom just saw me embarra.s.s myself earlier... I'm just glad he didn't accept it or else it would have ended up being even more awkward than it already has..."

"Y-Yeah..."

The group traveled together to Larina City, the neutral city in the barren neutral lands that had a teleportation formation connected to the Regulus Kingdom. Once they arrived, Cecil, Lucia, Yuna, Silver, Matheus, Celestina, and oddly enough, Cecilia, along with her guard unit teleported over to Regulus.

The Aerial unit would station themselves in the city and await the High Priestess' return while going out to investigate the whereabouts of the demons in the neutral territory.

When they teleported into Regulus's capital city, Cecil walked out of the castle and let out an amused scoff before telling Lucia to open up a Misty Gate.

The king of Regulus, Nemus, turned quite pale when he saw him and it was pretty amusing when Cecilia asked if he was okay and offered to treat him using Light Magic. The king naturally didn't need that so he just quickly ushered their group out of the castle.

"Alright, Lulu, take us back. From here, I'm sure you can manage a gate that'll take us directly into the valley?"

"Hmm... yeah, it's doable from here. I've found it much easier to use Misty Gate lately. The mana consumption had been reduced for some reason."

Cecil shrugged and turned to look back at Fenrir-form Silver who was carrying a sleeping Yuna. The dragon lady had already fallen asleep due to her hibernation period. Cecil thought that it was better to just have left Yuna back in the kingdom, but they needed her to show Lucia the places that they had previously teleported to.

"Alright, I'm opening it now, let's hurry back home. I bet everyone else from Anglaria is already there! I can't wait to see Eli, Fina, and Veli again~"

"Hah, I heard that Ainz can't come...too bad."

"Well, who cares about him? It's better if he stayed there and not come to bother us! Lucius will be there so you'll still have someone to talk to!"

"...that's pretty mean... He's still part of our group..."

"Hmph, he's now Eli's personal man slave and I find that amusing though~"

Once the Misty Gate fully materialized, everyone stepped through the gate and quickly arrived back in Silvaria.