Chapter 23. Arthur's eyes beamed

Arthur’s eyes beamed with excitement as he rushed over and gave his greetings “Hello! I’m Arthur, are you having a baby?” He pointed at the round stomach with no modicum of decorum.

Everyone within the group facepalmed by his bluntness. However, Roselyn returned a smile and said, “yes I am!” She continued “I hope it’s a girl.” Patting her belly lovingly she earnestly wished the next child would be a girl. She already has three boys; a girl isn’t much to ask for is it?

Julie was amazed at the size of Roselyn’s bump it seemed like she was ready to give birth at any moment. She couldn’t help but asked “When are you due?” The average pregnancy is approximately 9 months and the sheer size of the belly looked like it’s about that time.

“In about a month.” Roselyn beamed a happy smile she was just as excited to have her fourth as much as her first. She continued “A doctor in Asmar did a checkup on it and she said that she can reveal the gender of the baby, but I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“What if its another boy?” Arthur asked. Michael wanted to smack the boy across the head for asking these questions however, he refrained himself. Roselyn looked at the little Exotic who was only up to her chest and smiled “I’ll love him just as much as your parents love you.”

A shy look of embarrassment could be seen on Arthur’s face to her response as he started to think about his parents. A moment later he looked up at her and returned the smile “My parents love me much!”

Honestly, Arthur lived a pretty sheltered life. As the only child Arthur’s parents poured their entire love to the point of spoiling him. It could be said he was spoiled to the point that it wouldn’t be surprising if he had turned out to be an arrogant young master.

Luckily the arrogance never showed as he stayed childish and innocent, we could probably thank Shelly for this being the first person to tell him no. After a year with her around even Samuel and Angel was able to refuse some of Arthur’s requests in their own way.

One of which was when Arthur asked for a baby brother or sister to play with. In the beginning Samuel and Angel would either change the subject or laugh it off as they ran away from Arthur.

Once Shelly arrived, he didn’t ask for one as frequently as before as he finally had a friend to play with. However, there are moments when he brought it up which resulted in Samuel or Angel actually saying “no” then they showered him with gifts and toys afterwards feeling guilty inside.

The door to the estate opened up as Gran reentered after rushing out earlier. He ran straight to where Roselyn and the group were sitting and chatting as they ate snacks. Gran shoved Pebble aside as he sat beside her and pulled something out from underneath his coat.

“Here you go.” Gran said as he pulled out a dark looking goop. “Dark chocolate mixed with ginseng and durian.” His words made the everyone reel back in disgust as the putrid sweet smell of durian mixed with chocolate snuck its way into their nostrils.

The only eye beaming with delight was Roselyn as she opened her mouth waiting to be fed. “Ah~” The chocolate goop went into her mouth and was finished in a couple bites. The satisfied smile on her face was a complete contrast of everyone else covering their nose in disgust.

After a few more moments when the smell became more bearable Gran turned to look at the people sitting around. “I called you guys over because the Governor of Rouge requests that I help train you guys while you are here.” He continued “He told me he’s been soft since you were his own kid, so he asked for my help.” Gran gave Arthur a glance.

“So, tomorrow I will be in charge of your training.” His words were all too sudden for them to gather their thoughts.

“How will you train them?” Boss asked, he didn’t consider himself part of the people who needed to be trained.

“It’ll be similar to the training Naturelle will conduct to build your entire physical and mental shape.” Gran’s reply left the people sitting around confused, they didn’t know anything about the training.

“It’ll be simple, every morning you kids will spar with either Pebble, Cobble, or I” He continued “Of course since we’ve harnessed our energy we’ll only defend and counterattack.”

“In the afternoon you will meditate and empty your mind while I wack you with a stick. If you flinch, you fail. Simple, right?”

Boss nodded his head “Very crude, very simple, I like it!” Gran nodded his head in response and continued “Feel free to wander around the place, you’ll be here every morning so get used to the place.”

Gran helped Roselyn up from the sofa they were sitting on and walked her away as Pebble and Cobble remained seated.

“Tomorrow, it’ll be Cobble who you kids will be sparring against, you’ll just have to persevere for the morning, alright?” Pebble response made them look at each other with worry.

“Oh Michael, you’re also going to be sparring, even though you haven’t gone to school during the most optimal time, it’s not too late for you to harness your physical and mental energy.” Pebble concluded as he got up and left the room.

“Don’t worry I won’t bully you guys too hard on the first day.” Cobble replied as he got up. “Feel free to look walk around and explore the place, just don’t bother our father and mother.” Cobble didn’t need to say anything more than that as he left the room.

“Bark Bark” Barkie hopped off of Arthur’s head and walked towards the door. He clawed on it asking to be excused. Arthur walked over and let Barkie out of the house.

Shelly looked at Silver who was sitting quietly on her lap “Do you want to play with Barkie?” She asked. “Mew” Silver slowly got up and stretched before hopping off onto the ground and walked out of the door Arthur still had open.

The sounds of a dog yelping in surprise could be heard in the distance as Arthur closed the door for them to play. “Let’s go look around” Boss said as he got up and headed straight for their kitchen.

“Mm, some good food they have in here. I’ll help myshelf to shome if they don’t mindsh.” Boss’ face was already filled with meats and vegetables he found in the kitchen.

“Are they even cooked?” Arthur asked. Boss was already stuffing his mouth with food, so Arthur didn’t know how he was even eating. “Of course,” Boss stated as he began to fill his mouth with raw food.

“Shee?” He opened his mouth only for Arthur to see steam and the sound of fat from the meat crickling as the smell of cooked meat was flowing out of Boss’ mouth. He was cooking raw food with his mouth! “That’s so cool! Teach me that!” Arthur was amazed at how Boss can just cook food with his mouth.

Burrrp

Boss looked at the kid who was excited “No”

Shelly could only look at Boss with a strange look on her face. Every time they saw Boss do something so far, it was weird, he never attacked, he got beat up (impaled) and now he’s cooking with his mouth.

She quickly turned around and left the kitchen not bothering with anything else Boss had to display. Michael and Julie who walked in behind Shelly also didn’t know what to say and immediately left.

“Wait up Shelly!” Arthur shouted as he ran out of the Kitchen after being unsuccessful in getting anything out of Boss. The kids and the two young adults’ split ways as they went about exploring the estate.

By the time everyone got back together after examining the layout of the place it was back at the living room where they once sat. A little kid with his brown wig slowly falling off was sleeping soundly on the sofa.

The estate was just as beautiful inside and out, there were rows of vegetation and wildlife everywhere, yet the air remained clean. The marbled floor was polished without a speck of dust. Everything within the home was spotless as can be.

The thing that caught their attention the most was a pond in the back where the water was constantly rippling yet there was nothing being tossed in to make the ripples. The strangest thing about the pond was that the ripples happened consistently, a small ripple followed by stillness and then another small ripple.

They wanted to ask Pebble and Cobble about the pond, but after asking a servant at the estate they said that Pebble and Cobble both went out. They also asked the servant, but they had no idea, the pond had been like that ever since they had arrived to work at the estate.

By the time Boss woke up from his nap Arthur, Shelly, Michael and Julie already had left to go back to the Inn. One of the servants said that since they saw him sleeping so peacefully, they asked to let him sleep over for the night.

Boss was dumbstruck as he couldn’t believe they would just ditch him here while they went back. He wanted to leave immediately and berate the people that ditched him but decided to look around the estate instead.

Boss walked over to the rippling pond and gave it a curious look. Looking at the reflection of himself in the pond Boss tapped at the small ripple and caused a bigger one to form. The pond continued to maintain its steady big ripple instead.

A self-satisfied smile appeared on Boss’ face as if he did something great as he walked out of the house and headed back to the Inn.

While walking out of the estate Boss looked to his left and then glanced to his right, the animals who were once roaming around and lazily grazing at the grass and food seemed completely different. They were alert and orderly as they took their steps and ate the hay.

It wouldn’t be noticeable at a glance, but for someone like Boss, he can see that this wasn’t the end of it. The most subtle thing about all the animals was that they’ve formed two separate factions.

While they were still harmoniously grazing together and enjoying themselves there was a hint of competitive spirit in their eyes as they went about the things they did.

Paying them no mind Boss returned to the Inn and opened the door. By the time he had arrived it was in the evening and dinner would be soon. He looked at the cafeteria but spotted no one so he went into his room to change and get ready.

Boss walked in only to see everyone in the room. “Why is everyone in here?” He asked.

“Why not?” Shelly replied.

“How was your sleep?” Arthur asked.

“The boys’ room is larger than the girls, so we’re using it to discuss our plan of action for tomorrow.” Julie answered Boss. “Ohhh! What’s there to think about, just beat up Cobble and not make a noise when meditating.” Boss replied.

“Easier said than done.” Michael answered. He continued “Maybe for you, but for us who haven’t even learned to control our powers or go to school for it, how are we supposed to deal with Cobble?”

“Wait, speaking of powers, how many powers do Exotics have?” Boss asked completely ignoring Michael’s question. He almost forgot that in order to disguise as an Exotic he needed to know what their limits are.

“Two?” Arthur guessed, it’s just physical and mental energy, no? No one spoke up as Boss asked.

“Not even you know, Shelly?” Boss looked at the white haired sapphire eyed girl with a kitten asleep on her lap. To him she was like a walking encyclopedia of the world as she memorized all that she had seen and read.

“The books never said how many powers an Exotic can have, but from what I’ve seen it is two.” She paused before continuing “But, that’s only from what I’ve seen and read so far, there might be exceptions.”

Boss nodded his head as he began to think. The carefree look on his face slowly transitioned to that of a frown followed by a scowl as he started to scratch his hair violently.

“Dang it! There’s too many I want to use!”