A Small Measure of Peace

Alice’s POV:

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After taking back Ellery along with her half, we stayed at their place for one and half a week's. They were amusing to look at, especially with her half, called Tatsu Mori. He had Asian features, but we weren’t surprised since Ellery too had some. Similarly, Weston looked to be a mix of an Asian and a European human.

But what we deemed truly surprising was that Tatsu had some ogre blood in him for sure. Although his skin was white, he had tiny tusks and a huge body, towering at three meters. There were very few races except for the ogres, which had such features. We never forgot to tease Ellery about how she liked big men. Naturally, not in the presence of our children…

Ellery’s and Tatsu’s relationship advanced to that of a girlfriend and a boyfriend. What becomes of them in the future wasn’t a question… We will take them to Sawolond once we are done with our vacation, but before that, we decided to let our children see a little of the world. Sheltering them from everything would be a bad choice.

After talking things over with the other girls, I went to the garden. The golden trees and the golden grass continued to be a weird sight to see, even after spending one and half a week’s here. Hiro was sitting on the ground, with his legs crossed and eyes closed. I felt as he kept consuming the energy of the world, advancing our cultivation. I looked to Aurora, who was hugging Hiro tightly, her legs coiling around his waist. She reminded me of Koala Bears from Earth.

But what made this scene the most hilarious was that she was asleep. I squatted down in front of Hiro and looked back and forth between his unmoving face and our drooling daughter. Her chest heaved up and down as she kept breathing, her face peaceful and happy. [I don’t feel like waking her up…] I remarked through our bond.

Using one of his minds, he replied, [Then sit down and wait. Haha. Ugh, but it is so weird. I’ve had plans on how to educate her all along, but I just don’t find the situations good enough to use them. Not to mention, how cute she is and how much I love her. I find it hard to restrict her sometimes. Haah- being a parent isn’t all that easy, even if you have plans for it. This is why I prefer to have plans, but leave my options open, and leave the rest to my imagination!]

I smiled upon hearing his thoughts, understanding him. [Yeah, but at least she doesn’t behave as if she was superior to others. She might be even better than us in that regard. It’s good that she had people to educate her. Unlike you! You brought your narcissistic personality from your past! It’s your fault that I’m like this!] I thought, almost laughing.

[Hahaha. If not for me, you might have turned into a proud dragon, looking down at everyone and handling people like food!] He openly laughed upon hearing my words.

As he opened his eyes, I looked into them, conveying the love I felt for him. His eyes were all shiny and bright, reflecting the same feelings. He pulled his lips into a smile as he thought, [But that’s how it should be. The halves might not be perfect for each other instantly. They might be different at the start and they might turn into a perfect couple only later on. The reason why some couple takes months to get together, while others need only days or hours. The latter is kind of ridiculous, though…]

[Some people have to go through a tragedy to turn into the kind of person their half could truly love, I’m clear on this since forming Sawolond. But it’s kind of fun to see how even bad people change over time and turned into halves. Well, it sucked when we had to kill a couple because both of them turned evil. But if not for meeting me early on, you could have turned into the half of someone else.]

[The Universe is Ever Changing and Evolving, isn’t it? Hehe. But it’s not only that. We people do it all the time. It might be subtle and simple. It might be something others don’t notice. Maybe just a small concept forming in your mind. But that is a development of your character anyway. Look at how I didn’t kill the people ogling you!]

Hearing his last thoughts, I couldn’t help but laugh at him, saying aloud, “That’s development for you!”

“Shh! You will wake her up!” He whispered, pointing at Aurora. [Anyway… even if I created these concepts in my past life, it was hard to apply them in reality, though I managed to do it here. Thanks for being here with me in this lonely eternity. Solitude is only a Chuunibyou dream. My life would have been terribly boring without you.] he said as he leaned closer to kiss me, forgetting Aurora.

The back of her head fell on my chest as she woke up to the sudden movement. “Mhm- why are you moving around so much?” she asked, rubbing her eyes. She didn’t even notice us.

“Nothing. Mother and Father were just conveying their love for each other,” I said as a smile formed on my face.

“What about me?” She asked, her head tilted to the side. Seeing that she wanted to see our affection, both of us chuckled as we hugged her and showered her in our kisses. “We love you a lot,” we said at the same time.

“But don’t you feel bored staying in Sawolond all the time?” I asked her, loosening my arms around her.

“I’m not sure. It’s fun with Kana and Dre, and you are there too. But sometimes I really want to see new places with you,” she replied, still being clingy. We were more than happy to hear her answer. [Yes! She still loves Father! My position is unquestionable!] Hiro thought, smiling like an idiot.

[Not just you, stupid. She loves both of us!] I corrected him, wearing a proud face.

“You haven’t seen too much of our world yet, have you?” Hiro asked, caressing Aurora’s back. Do mine too, I thought with a pouting face. Laughing, he put his left hand on my back and followed my request.

After making a thoughtful face, Aurora shook her head sideways. “Why? Is there something else other than our house and that sea? Oh! What is on the other side of the sea? What is-” hearing his question, her mind bolted off as she started thinking of the possibilities.

“There are many humans, and cities, and monsters! Do you want to see them?” my husband asked, gesticulating in wide circles to increase Aurora’s curiosity. It’s not like it was necessary…

“When do we go?” she asked with a serious face, hiding her excitement. This little devil… she is getting better at hiding her emotions. Although she is more than obvious with these sudden changes, at least her face doesn’t show much. We’ve got to be careful with her in the future! I thought, feeling Hiro’s agreement through our bond.

[I have a feeling that my little angel title will be changed to my little devil…] Hiro thought, sighing loudly, feeling ironic. [Seriously, it’s as if it was declared by someone that children have to turn into little devils as they grow!] He kept on whining.

Hey. She didn’t even get there. What if you are wrong? Don’t bring in so much foreshadowing! I said through our bond, furrowing my brows.

Ignoring me, he focused on our daughter. “We can go now, but Mother and Father will change their looks or people will behave differently. Is that fine?” he asked, tilting his head to the side, looking into her eyes.

Biting on her lower lips, she raised her thumb towards her mouth, about to bite it. This was a habit of hers when she was thinking hard about something. What is she up to? we thought at the same time and started reading her mind.

I don’t want them to change their looks! To begin with, since when can they change their looks? Strange powers continue to crop up, I can just never expect it! I must cultivate! But they said that I shouldn’t do it for now. I’ll do it anyway… but they will notice. Grr, so much trouble! I’ll agree with this shape changing business. But I wanted to go on mother’s back, while she was in her true form! People always get so scared! It’s so much fun!

If only I could turn into such a mighty creature as Mother or Father… I’d definitely walk around the city, scaring people! I bet that Kana and Dre would join me!

We looked at each other with our mouths opened wide. Forget becoming a little devil... She already is one! What should we do if she was to have a monster form in the future?! ARGH! And the worst is that I too am such a person, even now! How am I supposed to tell her not to do it when I’m facing the same problem?! I screamed in my mind, holding the sides of my head.

His brows twitching, Hiro looked at me and then at our daughter as he said, “My dears, I know that is enjoyable to scare others, but do we want to be a family famous for scaring everyone randomly, or do we want to be a family famous for creating pairs?”

After making a thoughtful face, I looked at Aurora. A bright smile formed on our faces as we said at the same time, “Scaring others is funnier!”

Hiro stared at us with an incredulous look as he slowly raised his right hand. Opening his right hand, he placed his palm on his face. “Mother. I have a problem. I think that I love it when Father does that movement!” our daughter said, pulling her head back as if she was fearing an incoming slap.

Hiro spread his fingers and peeked at her. “But Father doesn’t like it when he has to do this movement because it means that someone said or did something stupid,” he replied, his brows twitching like never before.

“Hey, your brows are dancing. If you continue this, they will grow legs and run away,” I remarked, making fun of him. Knowing me well, he just laughed at my remark as he turned into his true form with a loud roar, shaking the planet.

“So flashy-” I wanted to say, but was interrupted by my daughter, “SO COOL! TEACH THIS TO ME!”

Using the laws, he raised her into the air and let her ride one of his heads. “Just one more before you are complete,” I remarked, seeing eleven heads. As I jumped onto his head, I put Aurora between my legs. He reorganized his scales into a comfortable chair for us and entered our world.

We changed the feeling of our aura, making it impossible for the cultivators to recognize us. To our daughter’s happiness, Hiro flew around a few planets, making the alarms go off everywhere. The people in our world created a technology, which was able to sense the exact strength of every creature. Unless we used Cosmological Constant or the laws to hide it, not even we were able to escape it.

A hydra at the Universe Realm for these weak humans was scary, to say the least. Thanks to our bond, I knew that he wanted to cure Aurora through repetition. If she saw scared expressions enough times, she would get bored of them in time. Though it might take a few heart-attacks… I thought, upon seeing her happy expression.

[You are even worse! You are just as happy! Look at yourself! You are grinning like an idiot!] Hiro rebuked me, putting me in my place.

[But we never did this when I was a kid! Why?!] I questioned him, pouting.

[....]

[....]

Hearing my words, he didn’t say anything, thinking that it was good that he didn’t have a normal hand at the moment. Else he would have had to use that movement again.

“I’m a little hungry now!” Aurora shouted as the wind brushed through her blonde hair. I was surprised to see a few strands of light brown colored hair. It seems like she will have a mixed hair color. But it matches her a lot, I thought, looking at the top of her head. While Hiro flew towards a restaurant, I used my Qi to turn Aurora’s hair wavy.

[Haha, it seems like our equality lives on even in our daughter.] Hiro thought as a feeling of happiness welled up in his heart. Being a few kilometers above our destination, he turned into his battle form as he caught me in a Princess-carry. His body and back straight like a log, we fell towards the ground as I held Aurora in my arms.

Hiro thought that she would be a little scared, but she had a lot of fun instead. “Hahaha! Free falling is so much fun!” she shouted, the wind blowing against our ears.

“Do you want to fall alone?” I asked her with a smile on my face. Seeing her nod, I let go of her and watched as the distance slowly increased between us in the air. But in the next moment, I felt more than surprised. A pair of black, scale-covered wings grew out of her back, followed by a tail.

We were waiting curiously to see if something new would appear on her, but nothing changed. The most ridiculous was that she didn’t even notice her wings, as she was focused on enjoying the fall, her eyes closed.

[How did she manage to not feel them growing out?] Hiro asked through our bond, looking at me with his brows raised.

“H-Honey, look behind you,” I said with a stiff face, catching the attention of our daughter. Turning her head to the side, she noticed her wings. After going through a series of faces, she tried moving them. We weren’t surprised to see her succeed on the first try, though learning how to fly took more time.

Seeing that the ground was getting closer, I jumped into Hiro’s arms, pulling Aurora with me. [Hahaha, I have two princesses.] he said with a clear tone of delight as he crashed into the ground. Although the stone cracked under us, he had enough manners to control our fall and slow down our speed. With his scales covering his body, he was much harder than a meteor and his weight wasn’t funny to look at either… Before landing, she pulled back her wings, hiding them.

“Dragon’s Tavern. It sounds like a great restaurant!” I said, reading the sign aloud. As Hiro put me on the ground, I did the same with Aurora. Holding her hand, we walked towards the door. Hiro looked at our daughter’s back, having a bad feeling.

I hope that their food is good enough. For them to use the word Dragon in their name?! They should be the best! Or at least on equal ground with a Hydra’s Tavern! If not… I’ll come back here in the future!

Although we felt happy upon hearing her thoughts… [Doesn’t this sound like the ‘Forest of Pure Elementals’ we burned to the ground? We should watch out or this place might be destroyed in the future… In case she inherited the believability of her own oaths, this place should be really good.] Hiro thought, wiping off his sweaty forehead.

I turned my hair brown colored and changed a little on my face before landing. Hiro decreased the size of his body, standing only at a hundred and seventy centimeters tall. It was strange to see him with an average height. I always had to stand on the tips of my toes if I wanted to kiss him. Looking at his white hair, I shook my head sideways, remarking in a low voice, “Chuunibyou!”

“Why? I always liked them! Don’t judge me, you lewd dragon!” He whispered in an equally low voice. If not for my good ears, I wouldn’t have heard it. Not bothering with him, I entered the restaurant, holding our daughter’s hand. Catching up with us, he quickly grabbed Aurora’s right hand. [Why does this feel so stupid?] he thought with a stiff face, scratching the back of his head.

[It’s because you are stupid.] I ridiculed him, chuckling. The interior of the restaurant was clean and spacious. The tables were made of black metal snippets. They looked as if they were made of scales! Looking at our daughter’s expression, a smile formed on her face for a moment, before it disappeared. You are good enough for now, she thought.

I shook my head sideways, as we sat down at an empty table in the corner. The walls were decorated in a similar way, except for the color of the metal snippets, which were dark brown. It seemed like the scales of a one-star Wood Dragon, though they had no idea of that. As soon as we sat down, a cow came over, her breasts jiggling. Go elsewhere with those! This guy is mine! I thought in my mind, looking at those things.

“Are you for real?” Hiro couldn’t help but ask aloud, surprising the woman who stopped beside our table.

“Pardon?” She asked, her head tilted to the side. She had short, black hair and an average face. Thanks to hiding our auras completely, no one knew who we were.

“Nothing. I was just talking to my wife,” he replied, looking over the Menu, which was stored in a Memory Crystal. Both of us took our orders, keeping it simple. Unlike the someone who was tiny and cute. Aurora’s list of food contained Boar, Lizard, and Bird meat served with different garnishes. Rice, mashed potato, and new kinds of plants we haven’t tasted before.

We knew about them since they were in our world… but we never bothered tasting them.

“Sir. If I may ask. Can you pay for that much?” the waitress asked, raising a brow with an apologetic face.

As Hiro blinked, he used our world to find a few trash people. Killing them, he took their money. Just as his eyes opened, a big bag of money appeared in his hand. “Is this enough?” he asked with a cool face on, leaning back on the corner sofa. Such a poser…

“Y-Yes. I apologize for asking,” she said, quickly bowing. It wasn’t strange to see her reaction because there were a few clans or individuals, who were powerful. She probably thought that we were such people. Well, the latter was true… just not on a scale she could comprehend.

Five minutes later, they came back with a food carriage and put everything on our table. Could it be that she likes delicacies? I thought, imagining her as a voracious girl. Being fat was impossible as a cultivator, but eating a lot was. In fact, it could be converted into energy and there were cultivation techniques built on that fact, though we never cared about stuff like that.

We started eating, enjoying the delicious food. Thanks to the Abyss or our education, she didn’t jump at her plate and ate normally. But her stomach seemed to have no end. No matter what was put in front of her, she ate everything… she seemed to be very fond of fish.

Munching on the last morsel of meat, she gulped loudly, rolling her tongue around her lips to clean them. She looked at us with her eyes shining. Seeing the remnants of her food on the sides of her mouth, I looked at Hiro, chuckling. Reaching out, I wiped the sides of Aurora’s mouth with my hand.

“You like to eat delicious food, don’t you?” I asked with a smile on my face, brushing my fingers through her silky hair.

“Yes! They taste so good!” she exclaimed, licking her lips. “Why are they looking at us?” she asked, noticing people’s stare.

Tilting my head to the side, I leaned back on the corner sofa and looked into a few people’s eyes as I said, “It’s because they don’t know where else to look.With the size of your body, eating that much is a questionable feat. I suppose they are curious about the size of your stomach! But don’t mind them. Mother and Father are here. If we hear a rude remark, they will have a bad end!”

Hearing my words, a smile splattered on her face as she nodded her head. A few people shook their heads sideways, while others just chuckled. But in the next moment, a commotion broke out as the door opened and a random group came in. The one in the middle was the strongest of the five. He was a shortie… in fact, his looks were very similar to Hiro’s. He had white hair, a lean and muscular body, but his eyes were red.

He is like a white rabbit. He gives me goosebumps! How could those girls like him? I thought, looking at the bond between him and two of the girls walking beside him. The remaining two was a pair too, which wasn’t surprising to see after our mix up. In fact, after seeing the truth behind our words, even more, people sought our help. Since they were in our world, we didn’t even have to move a finger.

Having two women wasn’t that surprising. The world was big and people were different. There were people who were bisexual and had both a boyfriend and a girlfriend. They usually turned into a three-way relationship. But bisexuality wasn’t a thing in the outside world. Simply said, there were people who liked harems and had numerous women. Even while Hiro lived here, he had heard of such pairs.

Although they were hard to understand with the standards of common people, there were many strange people. This trio was one such pair. In fact, everyone had their halves at this place, except for a shady guy in the corner. But we never bothered with him.

“Look, they are the Wanderers! The third strongest team in the whole universe!” people whispered, looking at these people from the corners of their eyes. Raising our daughter, I put her on my lap and started braiding her hair. Knowing the past of that shady guy in the corner, I knew what was going to happen. We were just staying to see the show!

Having a sudden idea, I made a bowl of popcorn appear in front of us. “Oh? What is this?!” Aurora asked, her eyes bright as usual. She has never seen it before. Hearing the cracking sounds as she started devouring it, I couldn’t help but facepalm at the same time as my husband.

“Hahaha! Both of you did it now!” She shouted with a happy smile on her face, laughing loudly, not minding her surroundings. The place turned deadly silent as everyone looked at her, the Wanderers doing the same. The white haired guy raised a brow before turning towards the corner, shouting at the shady guy.

“Zeleas! There is a bounty on your head! Give up now and we will-”

“Huh? Are you being serious? You won’t say such a line, right? Maybe it was a thing in my time, but you see… too many years have gone by since then,” Hiro interrupted the white haired guy, complaining about his speech.

“Who the hell are you?” one of the girls asked with an annoyed face, seeing that their mate was disrespected. Summoning a watermelon, I split it into two and after cutting a slice out of it, I held it in front of Aurora. It was fun to feed her… seeing her cute posture as she munched on everything I gave her, I hugged her tightly, rubbing my face on the top of her head.

Before anyone could say anything, we felt a sudden presence appearing. I wanted to stop her, but she barged into the tavern, stopping in front of us. “What are you doing here? Not even inviting us!? Dre and Kana were looking for Aurora all over the place!” Rose exclaimed, ignoring the epic group beside them.

I heard a sudden knock on my right. Looking there, I saw Hiro resting his head on the table. “Alice? Why are you staying silent?” Poirlion asked, tilting his head to the side. Dre and Kana sat down on my left and started chatting with our daughter, asking what were we doing up till now. Of course, she declared that we went around scaring the humans in our world because it was so much fun.

Thanks to the advanced technology of this world, everyone knew that there was such a case. Now they knew who were the evil ones too… “Are you being serious? You went around scaring people?” Hēi asked with a smirk on his face. Seeing us nod with a sigh escaping our lips, he showed his thumb finger as he said, “You should have invited me too!”

The white rabbit girl happened to look at Narihi when Poirlion looked at him. “What are you ogling my woman for?” he asked, growling.

Were we really like that? We should reflect on our actions… I thought, shaking my head sideways.

[I think so too.] Hiro agreed with me.

“N-Nothing! I’m sorry!” Mr. Rabbit said, looking at Poirlion with slightly fearful eyes. Everyone knew our friends too. Seeing the faces of realization, we knew that we were busted. Turning back into our true human forms, we were about to leave when Gaia and Anthony swung open the door, tearing it off. It flew towards Mr. Rabbit’s back, plastering him on the wall. Of course, he wasn’t injured.

“Oh?! Pardon us!” Gaia said, her hand in front of her mouth, faking a surprised and apologetic face. Making a come here motion, the door returned to its original position, along with the victim. Zeleas also flew towards me. Using my Qi, I turned him into a cripple and put him on the ground.

“There. You shouldn’t try raping women. Take care of him,” I said, looking at the Wanderers with a stern glare. If not for Aurora, I‘d have killed this piece of shit when we entered the restaurant. Placing the bag of money on the table, I waved my hand as we disappeared.

After going back to Sawolond, I looked at our friends, thinking. “Maybe we should advance our life story sometime later,” I said with a smile on my face, caressing Aurora’s head. We aren’t so far away from the tenth level, being at the fifth stage of the Universe Realm. After spending a few years here, waiting for Aurora to grow up, we should find out the secrets we were seeking all this time.

The secrets of eternity.