Soon after Atem left, Lakshman and his wives set out to the upstairs bedroom where their babies were being taken care of by the family maid, Mariana. Only Emilia, Ondine, and Sumara split up from them and went into the kitchen as they announced that a feast should be in order to celebrate their husband’s triumphant return.

“Is all this work really necessary just because I came back?” He asked them wryly.

“Of course!” Was the response from all of them, more emphasized by the three who would be doing all the cooking and cleaning.

Seeing their resolute expressions, he shrugged his shoulders and smiled as he felt blessed for having such wonderful wives. So, after going upstairs and entering the bedroom that his babies were staying in, he saw that Mariana was seated in a chair knitting some kind of cloth with a ball of wool on the ground. On the beds, nine babies lay side by side while being fast asleep.

Mariana looked up from her work and widened her eyes in surprise when she caught sight of Lakshman framed by the doorway. She instantly dropped her tools and rose to her feet with a shocked look on her face.

“Lakshman! No, I mean master! Is that you?” She asked curiously with a concerned look on her face.

He smiled at her reaction and replied, “Yes, Mariana. It’s me.”

As soon as she recognised his voice, she definitely knew it was him. With great happiness surging from within her, she hurried forward before wrapping her arms around his back and hugging him tightly. He, in turn, hugged her back and the older woman and the younger man stood embracing one another warmly.

“I’m so happy to see you,” she said as she peeled away from him with tears starting to flow down her face.

“Mariana,” he said while blinking in surprise at her sudden tears. “Why are you crying? I’m back.”

She nodded in agreement and said, “No. These are happy tears, master. I’m glad you’re back but… it’s just that I… I feared that I had lost yet another member of the family.”

He understood that she was referring to the loss they had suffered when the Rodfox Kingdom was decimated in the Calamity Titan’s attack, killing his parents while she and his twin sisters somehow managed to survive it. Recognising this fact, he moved forward and hugged her warmly and spoke in a reassuring voice.

“It’s okay, Mariana. I’ve returned, and I don’t plan on going away again.”

She nodded once again and separated from him as she said, “Right, but you should really be reassuring your wives with such lines, not me.”

“He already did,” said Silvera as she and the others appeared standing all around Lakshman with smiles on their faces at the warming scene that unfolded before them.

“It feels like I’m watching a mother meeting her long-lost son for the first time in years,” commented Venezuela with a smile.

“Except that it’s disturbing when she keeps calling him ‘master’ instead of his name,” added Tetra with a small smile.

“Don’t be silly. I’m the family maid, and I cannot address my master by his name. It’s discourteous,” stated Mariana huffily while straightening up and going back to her sombre demeanour.

“Come on, Mariana. You helped raise him alongside his parents. One could argue that he’s also your son since you helped raise him over the years,” said Cantia with a wink.

Mariana shook her head and said, “Perhaps I did have a hand in raising him, but I cannot allow myself to take a position of advantage just because it presented itself. Don’t you agree, master?”

At her sudden move in questioning him, Lakshman blinked in surprise before he smiled wryly at all the attention that gathered on him from both his wives and his family maid.

“Um…? I don’t really know…” he said vaguely.

“Lucky?” Venezuela asked, looking troubled just like the others. “Don’t you view her as your second mother?”

“I do,” He replied instantly in a firm voice but then he looked troubled as he said, “but I just don’t feel like I should force anything on her if she doesn’t like it.”

“Master is very right on that,” said Mariana with an approving smile while the others looked on in confusion. “Before I was appointed as the family’s maid, I was a slave sold away due to debt by my parents. However, I was a good friend of Lakshmi, Lakshman’s mother, who remembered her friendship and bought rights for my ownership while slavery was still a thing. Since then, I’ve devoted to serving this family faithfully and show the same loyalty to their heir after them.”

“But slavery’s been abolished though,” pointed out Silvera.

“It has but not the commitment I hold deep inside,” replied Mariana with a bitter smile, “and with both Lakshmi and Indra passing on, I can only hope to fulfil my commitment by serving this family loyally to the very end. So, please, just let me do things in my own style. I would really appreciate that if you will allow it.”

“Mariana,” said Erza slowly with a sad smile, feeling sad at the fact that she was resisting them to the very end.

“Yeah. Do things the way you want to, Mariana,” said Lakshman cheerfully much to his wife’s surprise.

“Lucky? Don’t tell me you approve of this?” Venezuela asked curiously.

To that, he merely shrugged his shoulders and stated, “Mariana is stubborn. Besides, nothing would please me more than seeing everyone happy.”

While everyone stared at them in surprise, Cantia burst into a laughter and said, “I knew it! From the beginning, I knew these two’s relationship was like this after all.”

At that moment, the babies stirred and began to make cute sounds at the sudden disturbance caused by her laughter.

“Cantia! Look what you’ve done!” Mariana complained irritably.

Cantia did not wait and listen as she, along with the others, quickly moved forward to caress their children and gently pat them so as to reassure them and allow them to go back to sleep. While this was happening, Lakshman watched them from behind with a look of interest on his face. It had admittedly been a while since he last saw his children, and he could tell that they were growing splendidly.

“That reminds me, what happened with your helping out with Dom’s family?” He asked Mariana curiously.

“Oh. Well, they are managing now that the War Titan had joined them and was doing a pretty good job looking after the infant,” explained Mariana with a smiling face.

“Really? Nara is?” Lakshman asked, looking surprised.

“Yes. In fact, the newborn seems to really enjoy pulling on his hair,” stated Mariana while letting out a chuckle.

Lakshman laughed at that and said, “Great. I should go visit them sometime soon.”

Mariana nodded in agreement and they watched the nine wives softly whispering and handling the babies as the babies slowly drifted back to sleep.

***

That evening when the twins came home, they were both shocked and delighted by the sudden appearance of their brother. Dropping their bags down on the floor, the two rushed forward and hugged him on either side tightly while saying, “Annayya, you’re back!” with great emotion.

A while later, as Emilia, Sumara, and Ondine began setting the food and such for the party, Lagron and Amaranda arrived at their doorstep in their routine of hanging out with the family in the evenings. The Dragon Titan froze at the entrance way, staring in shock when Lakshman arrived near the entrance to greet him.

“I’m back,” greeted him Lakshman.

“About bloody time!” Lagron exclaimed energetically. “Now, fight me!”

He launched himself at Lakshman while swinging his fist backward in an attempt to hit him with it. As he came flying at him, Lakshman side stepped and let his rival fly for just an instance before reacting to retaliate. He did this by reaching out with his left hand and grabbing Lagron by the back of his shirt before hoisting him into the air, causing him to appear as if he was floating in mid-air.

His twin sisters watched the sequence in which the action took place without batting an eyelid. Then it felt like time was moving slowly as their eyes slowly moved up to where the Dragon Titan was floating in mid-air with their brother’s arm holding onto the back of his shirt. For a second, time seemed to stand still before Lakshman swung his arm down and slammed his rival hard on the floor, with Lagron facing upward with a surprised look on his face.

All of this happened within seconds of Lagron first reacting and Lakshman delivering the finishing move. Then time resumed and the twins beamed with joy at their brother’s quick victory while Amaranda merely nodded her head with a small smile as if expecting this outcome from the beginning.

“It ended even before it got started!” Priya said cheerfully.

“You’re so cool, annayya!” Indira said, praising her brother proudly.

“Curses,” groaned Lagron as he slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position. “That was fast.”

“You were slow,” replied Lakshman in a cool voice.

“Like hell I was!” Lagron retorted irritably. “You must’ve done some kind of intense training or something in that other world!” He quickly rose to his feet and faced his rival squarely before demanding, “How many pushes did you do? How many drinks did you drink? What kind of gravity did you train in?”

He was literally demanding in Lakshman’s face, causing the Phoenix Titan to look amazed before his sisters began defending him.

“You’re too close, Lagron!” Indira protested while becoming a human wedge between the two men.

“You’re being too rude!” Priya insisted, shoving her hands forward in an attempt to push the other man back.

Lagron looked down at the two girls and looked quizzically at his rival, who wore a warm smile on his face.

“Your siblings are getting in between us, fool.”

“They’re simply protecting me.”

“Only a coward hides behind women.”

“I’m not hiding, just standing behind them. That’s all.”

Lagron snorted and asked, “You think you’re clever?”

“Seems to be so,” said Lakshman with a confident smile.

The Dragon Titan disliked the attitude that Lakshman was taking, which was exactly what he hated in him. Lakshman, for his part, was actually not the one in control as Asura had switched with Lakshman when his rival attempted to attack him.

“You’re being a bit too rude to him,” pointed out Lakshman inside his mind.

“Ah. This much is nothing compared to my smack talk in the past,” replied Asura inside his mind. “And anyway, I’m very irritated with his behaviour. He’s changed drastically from way back then and feels as though he had come down to the level that I used to be way back.”

“So, this is like a lesson that you’re going to give him?”

“Yes,” stated Asura firmly.

This made Lakshman sigh and say in a resigned voice, “Fine, but I don’t like the fact that he doesn’t know that there’s two of us here.”

“More advantageous for us to mess with him,” stated Asura with a laugh.

“You’re a sadist,” said Lakshman with a sigh.

“That’s one part that makes me… Asura!” His past-self said gleefully. Then he spoke to Lagron by asking, “So, if you lost to me today like my sister put it ‘before it got started’, how do you plan on defeating me in our rematch?”

“What?!” Lagron exclaimed, looking at him as if he could not believe what he just heard. “Our… rematch? You mean…?”

“Yeah. I’m ready for a rematch if you are up for it,” said Asura with a smug smile.

The Dragon Titan blinked in surprise before he exclaimed, “I was born ready, you goddamn fool! Let’s fight right now!”

However, Asura shook his head and said, “Nope. Not now or today, but in a week’s time.”

“In a week, huh?” Lagron asked as he contemplated the time frame. “Why a week?”

“So that I could spend more time with my family and do some catching up, idiot,” replied Asura with a laugh as if it was obvious. “It all comes down to you. You get a week’s time to get prepared. Are you up for it?”

Lagron appeared to think about it for a moment before he looked fiercely at his rival and replied, “You can count on it, but you better be ready to hand over that title of being world’s strongest warrior because of this foolish move.”

As he turned and was on his way back, Priya called after him with, “Hey! What about dinner?”

“Training before dinner!” Lagron replied in a firm voice.

Just as he was about to exit the building, however, a loud growling sound emanating from Lagron’s body. The origin of the sound came from his stomach and it was heard loud and clear by his lover, his rival, and the twins. This made the arrogant and smug Dragon Titan to freeze in his tracks as his face reddened in shame.

“So, is it still training before dinner?” Priya asked again smoothly with a knowing look on her face.

There was a moment of pause before Lagron whirled around and looked stone faced as he asked the single word, “Where?”

Priya smiled smugly before she and Indira lead Lagron and Amaranda away. Asura watched the Magic Titan smile briefly at him before following after her lover. For his part, the first Phoenix Titan chuckled at how things are playing out according to his expectations before following after them for the festive meal.