“Fuahh!” I breathed in the fresh sea smell that’s only indigenous to the dock, “Now this is what true freedom smells like! No more wars, no more giant monsters, just me and my family, living it up in the safest country in the world!”

“Hold your horses, sailor.” Cecily rained on my parade, “We still don’t have a place to stay. Not only that, but since we’ve exhausted almost all of the funds we have on us, then we’re gonna have to first figure out how to not go broke.”

Her worries are sound and reasonable, that is, they would be if she was talking to anyone but the Famed Inventor. Does she not know where we’re located at? Literally everyone and their grandmas know about Sol Pandora, so all we have to do is just walk over to the nearest bank so I can withdraw the royalties from my numerous inventions and we’re all set!

“Let’s focus on that later. I’ve got a plan figured out for everything regarding this little trip of ours, so just watch your step for now, lest you fall off the side of the dock.”

Checking the greenish, dirty water below the dock we were standing on, Cecily donned a disgusted expression before obliging, “Fine, if you say so.”

“Really? You’re oddly quick to agree on something like this. Everything okay?”

“How rude! Am I really that much of a prude in your eyes?” She glared back.

“Yeah.” I replied.

“Pwetty much.” Nelly added.

Hehe! Looks like Nelly’s learned how to properly annoy her mother while still keeping it in moderation. She’s quick to learn these things, which only makes me even more confident about this idea of mine I have planned.

“Mom’s an ass.” She suddenly said, surprising us both.

“N-Nel?!” Cecily almost broke, “Where did you learn that from?!”

“From you, remember?” I tried defending Nelly’s sudden use of a naughty word, “You were the one that first swore on the boat ride here, so the only person you have to blame is yourself.”

“Did I say something I shouldn’t have?” Nelly turned to me.

“No, Nelly…” I instinctively replied, before correcting myself, “Actually, yeah. That’s a naughty word, and you shouldn’t call anyone that, much less your mother.”

“A naughty word?”

“Yeah, like meanie for example.”

Suddenly gasping after hearing me say the naughtiest word she knew at the time myself, she gave me a devious grin before whispering, “Dad said a bad wowd…”

“Oh, whoops.” I ruffled her hair, “But I’m free to say as many naughty words as I can, since I’m an adult. Once you grow up, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass about how much you swear, so look forward to it!”

“Lune!” Cecily shouted.

“What? She’s already heard from her mother about what it means, plus I already told her not to use such phrases herself, so I’m just teaching her how to properly use them later in life! Wouldn’t want her to embarrass herself by making up fake swear words on the fly now, would we?”

Usually, I would expect Cecily to get angry at me for refuting her for the nth time now, but she was oddly calm about the situation. Looks like she’s brewing up a plan of her own…

”Humu, well in that case, screw you!” She loudly proclaimed, pointing a finger directly at my chest, “Screw you and the boat you rode in on!”

“Scwew… you…” Nelly parroted her mother’s words.

“H-Hey now!” I cupped Nelly’s ears, “Just because you let one swear word slip doesn’t mean the floodgates are open, y’know?!”

“And? We wouldn’t want her to embarrass herself now, would we?”

Once again, she’s taking the time to properly think up a counter to my jeers, and that’s of course realized by using my words against me. Honestly, given how much she’s been dancing to mine and Nelly’s tune this whole boat ride, I kind of forgot that under this kind of dumb and naïve lady lied a strong and independent General of the leading gang of Great Hiana, not to mention a great politician.

Cecily’s certainly gifted with controlling people, which is obvious if you take into account her Yellow Iro, but that’s beside the point. Geez, I really shouldn’t have toyed with her as much as I did. Because of my negligence, Nelly was taught another unnecessary swear word…

Sulking a bit more at the thought of slowly losing my innocent little daughter to the hands of the devil (i.e. Cecily), I had snapped out of it and promptly picked up our luggage without a second thought. This sudden action of mine surprised the girls, so they decided to let their curiosity roam free a bit.

“What’s got you so excited?” Cecily turned to me, “Didn’t you say you wanted to take your time and worry about things later?”

“That’s exactly right, so that’s why we’re heading to our first destination – Melgorra! Or more specifically – The Tower of Currents!”

***

“Oi, Lune.” Cecily tapped me on the shoulder, “What exactly do you mean by our first destination?”

“Oh, so you finally caught on?” I chuckled, “Since Auros said himself that he’s got his eyes on me, I figured to begin work on upholding my end of the solid and start living a more exciting life, so I thought we could go on a little family field trip!”

“I don’t like that glint in your eyes…” She winced, “Where exactly are you planning on taking us?”

“That much should be obvious, no? We’re gonna be visiting every country in Cardina!”

“…You dolt.” She rolled her eyes.

Although her reaction was that of humoristic disbelief, she wasn’t at all against the idea of traveling a bit. That being said, I’m completely serious when I said that I want us to visit every country here. It’s two, no, a bunch of birds, one stone!

I say that because of all the pros as well as the virtually non-existent cons of such an undertaking. First of all, as I said, I want to live a more exciting life that’ll at least entertain the God of Fighting, and while I’m not someone incredible just yet, the plan is to hopefully gain a few more points in knowledge before we can depart for Trivis Numerica.

Besides, what else are we supposed to do for the duration of our stay here? Certainly, we’re not under any obligation to remain in Cardina, but there really isn’t a safer place for Nelly than here, so we don’t really want to leave this place either. Plus, I’m pretty good at Cardinic, so it’s not like there’s gonna be a language barrier between us or anything.

Another thing to note is that, with this journey, I’ll essentially be continuing my childhood dream of visiting every country in the world. Whether or not such a dream is even feasible is a huge question mark at this moment, but it’d certainly help if I could check off an entire continent as vast as Cardina, the Compass of the World.

“Besides that, I really want Nelly to learn more about the Gods.” I added.

“Awe those Mistew God’s fwiends?” Nelly turned around, “I wanna know mowe about them!”

Chuckling at the proud little pose she made when exclaiming that, I had noticed that we were actually approaching the Tower of Currents over near Melgorra, the capital city of Meridia. We were still in the transport wagon though, but even from that far out, the tower’s amazing height still shone through.

“Listen, sweetie, the Gods are our protectors.” I began explaining the legend my dad had passed down to me, “They’re the ones responsible for all the good and bad things that happen in the world.”

“But if they’we pwotectows, how come they allow bad things to happen?” She said, glancing over at my nose.

“That’s…” I covered up my nose out of embarrassment, “Those bad things are a result of karma. Do you know what karma is?”

“Kawma means bad things happen to bad people, and good things happen to good people!” She recited.

“Bravo! Good girl, Nelly!” I patted her on the head, “You’re absolutely right!”

“But dad, you’we not a bad pewson!” She refuted my explanation, “The God’s must’ve made a mistake!”

This was very nice of her to say to someone like me, but I know full well just how much she’s saying that because she doesn’t know about anything regarding my past. Heck, I wouldn’t call myself a good person even now! It’d be way more accurate to call me a bad person who’s currently undergoing rehabilitation, but I’m the furthest thing from a good person, really.

I killed people before, advanced weaponry up a notch by creating the first AFP, I cheated on my lover with Marina, I beat the crap out of Ed without even hearing him out at all, not to mention I drove away many good people out of my life, all the while making myself an enemy of multiple states and countries. But worst of all, I hit Cecily!

“I dunno about that, Nel…” Cecily tilted her head, “Your dad’s not the biggest saint out there, but he’s got his charm.”

“Cecily?” I turned my head in surprise.

“What?” She chuckled, “I’m not saying you’re good, but you’re definitely not bad either. A man’s life is gray like that, and I think yours is too.”

For better or for worse, it seems I’ve been accepted by Cecily for now. Well, accepted really isn’t the term here, more like she was just helping me weasel my way out of Nelly’s innocent expectations and succeeding in not shattering them. I can guarantee you that she’s saying this for Nelly’s sake and not mine, but hey, I’ll take what I can get.

“Evo nas!” The wagon driver said.

“E, hvala puno! Koliko je to?” I replied.

“Wait, you speak Cardinic?!” Cecily’s eyes widened as I handed the driver exact change.

“Duh, I lived here for three years, remember?” I raised an eyebrow, “Now come on, you guys! The Tower of Currents is the second World Wonder we’ll be visiting, so let’s enjoy ourselves to the fullest!”

Entering the place, I was expecting it to be quite crowded. Incidentally, I did some research on all the World Wonders soon after Issei had departed on his journey a couple years ago, so I know a ton of fun facts about each place, and on the paragraph about The Tower of Currents, it said that you’d usually have to wait hours in line before you could get a hold of an artifact from it.

By the way, the paragraph about Auros’ Throne mentioned a lovely and enchanting female voice that would entice any and all weary travelers that come across it. The paragraph talked extensively about the author’s wish to one day hear the beautiful voice’s singing, but alas, he died before he could ever do so. That being said, I don’t quite recall meeting any such damsel. Could he be talking about ASSA? Heh, I won’t judge.

“Good day, Grimhearts.” An old man spoke from the top of the giant stairs.

“Wait, Entropic? Actually, how do you know our names?!” I yelled suspicion.

“Fret not, Grimhearts, the God of Knowledge’s dearest friend, Auros, has told me about your arrival ahead of time. You are safe, although I would understand your worries.”

Auros, huh? That bastard, he really is keeping an eye on me 24/7… Does he not have anything better to do?

“Why are we the only ones here?” Cecily yelled back.

“…” He stood silently atop the stairs before answering in a flat tone, “You do know it’s a Sunday, right? No one comes here on this day, but I specially prepared for at least you three because of Auros’ prophecy.”

Ah, is that it? Well, sorry for having you get out of bed on your day off, old man. That being said, how lucky for us! Looks like having Auros’ eye above us is a good thing after all!

“U-Uhm!” Nelly nervously spoke up, “N-Nevew mind…”

“Go on, Nelly!” I raised her on my shoulders, “Speak what’s on your mind, don’t hold back!”

“Wah!” She yelped, “I-It’s just… That necklace looks weally pwetty…”

Following her gaze to the shiny platinum necklace standing on an ordinary bust off to the side, I chuckled before saying excitedly, “You want it?”

“But it’s not ouws…?”

Nodding to the old man in wizard robes, I waited for him to smile and approve, “Do not worry, child. The Tower is generous, it allows anyone to take but one item of their choosing.”

“Weally!?” She jumped off of me and immediately sprinted to the bust, “Can I weally have it?!”

“It’s all yours, Nel.” Cecily gave her a thumbs up, “Just make sure to be careful with it. The artifacts from the World Wonders are said to hold mysterious powers.”

This phrase sent me back a few years, back to when our party was still exploring Shaid’s Lair even. I had recalled the Book of Fortune and worried that a similar misfortune might grapple onto Nelly as well, but my worries were soon discarded.

“Haha, those are nothing more than folktales, young miss!” The wizard guy chuckled, “But you’re free to believe it if you so desire.”

Thus, we were offered to take an artifact ourselves soon after, but we humbly declined as nothing seemed to catch our eye. Waving back at the kind wizard guy that opened the doors to the Tower just for us, we felt thankful for earning Auros’ favor as we made our way to the capital.