“Aww, you’re leaving already?” Anna begged us to stay a bit longer, “Come on, stay a while longer, at least for Nelly’s sake.”

“For Nelly sake?” Cecily tilted her head, “What do you mean?”

Nudging the little girl hugging her thighs, Anna was hoping for Nelly to convince us not to leave just yet, “Come on, Nelly! Don’t you agree that it’s nice on this island? You’re our ray of sunshine! If you leave us now, things will just get boring all over again!”

“Hmm, no thank you.” Nelly politely declined, “I think I wanna go with mom and dad on this one.”

“Nellyyy~!” Anna cried out.

Really, I never would have expected for Anna of all people to get this attached to our little girl. It seems those two have really gotten close while I was away in Cardina, since I remember Cecily telling me she used to live with the Grays in Stringwood for a time. That being said, I don’t think she’ll have to worry about missing Nelly anytime soon.

“Hold on a second.” Cecily once again inquired, “What makes you think you’ll be going with us, young lady?”

“Eh?” Nelly was now the one left in shock, “W-W-Whatever do you mean, mother dearest?! Of course I’m going with you! I wanna help out Uncle Ed just as much as you!”

“What a kind and brave daughter you’ve raised!” Arthur smiled.

“Not now, Arthur.” I shushed him, “Listen Nelly, the place Uncle Ed is at is a very dangerous place. From what we’ve heard, it’s like Sulfury, but only a billion times scarier. This time, it’s what I can only describe as a real war. I’m sure you don’t understand what I’m saying, but I’d really like it if you never did.”

“Grr…!” She grit her teeth at me before turning to Cecily, “Mom, this has got to be some kind of joke, right?! You’re not seriously gonna leave me here? Not after I finally met dad!”

“Sorry Nel, and I know. It’s a shame, but your father’s right. The place is just too dangerous, and to tell you the truth we never even intended on taking you there in the first place. If your Auntie, Great Grampa and Miss Harper weren’t here, we would have just told the Gryses to come over and take care of you instead.”

“But…!”

“No buts!” Cecily raised her tone, “Trust me, neither your father nor I want to go there, but if your Uncle’s in danger, then what other choice do we have?”

Hearing her words, Arthur was a bit saddened. It looks like he’s still feeling the tinge of regret from sending Ed off into the war, despite his previous outlook on it. Really, how the hell did Anna manage to contain her anger all this time ever since Ed left? I know it’s Arthur, but if he did something like this to me, I’d probably never speak with him again.

“Right, we’ll take good care of her while you’re gone.” Harper took Nelly’s hand, “But do be sure to come back in one piece. And don’t forget to bring that naïve idiot with you.”

“Of course.” We chuckled, “And thank you.”

“There’s only one rebel army camp that’s still active, and that’s probably where he’s at.” Carl hurried us onto the boat, “It’s in Wheats, I think you’ve been there actually, Lune.”

“Yeah.” I showed him the scars on my forearms from the Stray Wolf attack, “It’s where I got these bad boys.”

“Geez, how are you not dead yet?” Harper put her palm to her face.

Getting on the boat, we weren’t prepared for how hard it was going to be. Certainly, bidding farewell to our friends was enough to demotivate anyone from quitting, but Nelly’s shrieks and cries to not abandon her were what drove us to tears the most. Even still, both Cecily and I knew that it’s improper manners to leave without a smile on our face, so with the widest grins we could muster, we stood on the ship and waved happily as the now hungover Carl was sloppily departing the dock.

“Bye bye!” I shouted at them, “Nelly, make sure to do what Aunties Harper and Anna tell you, and make sure to take care of Great Grampa for us, okay?”

“Nel, make sure to eat a lot of food while we’re gone, okay?” Cecily said the phrase any worried mother would repeat relentlessly to their child, “If you want to grow big and healthy, don’t leave a single piece of food on the plate!”

“Noooo!!!” Nelly cried out, “Don’t leave me!”

“Now, now, Nelly.” Anna smiled at her, “Now we can have a ton of fun together all we want! Isn’t that exciting?”

“Hell no!” Nelly outright denied her Auntie’s words of encouragement as she bit her hand and ran away, “I wanna go with mom and dad!”

“Ow! You little twerp!” She rushed after her to the direction of the tents, “Get back here!”

And with that, we were officially off of the island. Sadly, it seems like we’ve left poor old Nelly with people who are all a bit of a handful. Honestly, a part of me kind of feels like going to a war is way easier than staying on this island with so much tension.

***

Approaching the shores of Trivis Numerica, Carl had braced us to jump out as he makes a drive by drop off of sorts. Basically, he said that he’s not comfortable staying here for even a second, so he apologizes to us and shrugs.

“Are you crazy?” I yelled at him, “It’s either that or you’re deaf, since I think I remember clearly telling you that Cecily’s pregnant!”

“Sorry, I really don’t want to stay here for a second more.” He shook his head, “If someone even so much as sees me, they’ll tail me all the way to the island, leading to all of us dying there. Listen, the water is just shallow enough to not pose a threat to you, and the waves created from the ship will only serve to help you get to shore without a hitch.”

“He’s right, Lune.” Cecily reassured me, “I’m fine. It’s not like I’m incapable of swimming a short distance, since the baby’s far from being due yet.”

Certainly, her body isn’t at all the gravid figure you’d picture when thinking of a pregnant woman, but it’s still a bit worrying to have her be this active. Really, I wanted her to stay with the others on the island, but she talked me out of it, stating something like “We’ll come back before the baby even starts showing!”

“Well then, you ready?” Carl sent us off with a countdown, “Jump in three, two…!”

“Hold on! There’s gotta be another…!” I chickened out in the last second, but Cecily firmly held me in place by the hand.

“Oh no you don’t!” She smiled wryly.

“One!” Carl yanked the ship’s wheel to the side, effectively tossing us over the edge.

Crap! Crap, crap, crap! This is bad, this is super, SUPER bad! No, gotta calm down, gotta calm down! Even if one of us gets injured, I can just cast Heal! Yeah, it’ll be alright! Oh, but what if… the worst happens? How does Heal affect a fetus? Ugh, in any case, I don’t wanna have to find out!

Pulling Cecily close to my chest as I turned my back towards the water, I safely managed to cover for most of the impact of hitting the water dead on. That being said, I basically had to endure the pain of hitting the water with my back laid flat out, leading to a pretty nasty stinging sensation. Even still, I’d rather that than the former option.

“Pwah!” We both swam out of the water before I cussed Carl out, “Geez, that asshole drunkard…! Remind me to never ask him for a ride ever again!”

“Teehee! Well, he’s technically not a sailor, right?” Cecily giggled, “It’s alright for him to make mistakes like this, seeing as he’s mostly a restaurant manager.”

“My ass! Come on, let’s just go find a place to dry off before looking for a wagon.”

Walking to a spot behind the rocks of the beach we swam out to, we were left soaking wet, and the heavy rain that was pouring wasn’t really helping us at all. Even still, we somehow managed to find a little cave of sorts. Well, not really a cave, but it had a ceiling to protect us from getting even more soaked, so let’s just call it that.

“Alright, your clothes.” I put my hand up as I started taking my shirt off, “We don’t want either of us to catch a cold, so come on, I’ll hang them up on that wall over there and we’ll wait for them to dry.”

“A-Ah, hm?” She looked a bit surprised, “Come on, don’t just go undressing like that. You surprised me! Ha-ha…”

“Oh?” I used the situation to tease her a bit, “Don’t tell me… we’re you expecting something like this to happen? Well, the situation certainly set itself up for us, so…”

“Mn…!” She ran to the corner of the cave, “H-Hey now! Quit it with the teasing! Fine, I’ll stop making things weird and just undress! I’m sorry, okay?”

Seeing as she was completely soaked from head to toe, I actually got pretty aroused just from seeing her clothes sticking to her skin, accentuating her curves, and even showing off a bit of her top. That being said, it was never in my intention to pounce her, seeing as she is pregnant, and I don’t want to disturb the process. But the moment she started slowly, almost sensually taking off her clothes, well, it just made me lose all reason. So, while she was halfway through taking her shirt off, I used the situation to hug her strongly, making both of us fall to the sandy ground.

“H-Hey!” She yelped as I took off my belt to tie her hands up, “Stop that! What are you doing?!”

“A husband’s job.” I replied as if it were a matter of fact.

“B-But you’re not my husband yet, though!” She raised an argument, “H-Hey, those are my…! Ngh… Don’t suck them!”

“Alright then.” I quelled her worries as I removed her bra and panties, “Take this as my proposal.”

“T-That’s… not fair…” Her strength slowly left her as she succumbed to the pleasure.

Halfway through the motions, and I felt like I was knee deep in Heaven. Like, no joke I think I saw Selzion smiling at me while giving me the thumbs up. The pleasure was immaculate, only accentuated by the fact that neither of us had the chance to do bedtime stuff for a while, either because Nelly would always interrupt us, or because of the situation at hand. But now, we didn’t care. Nothing else in the world existed, not that we cared for, anyway. It was just that – love… and lust.

“Ngaahh ~!” She cried out, “Rest! Let me rest a bit, please!”

“No can do!” I proudly announced, “Sorry to say this, but hearing you say that is only getting me even more fired up!”

“P-Please! At least…!” She huffed and puffed, “At least take the shirt off! I can’t see a thing!”

“Y’know, I heard from a foreign friend of mine that blindfolds make you ten times as sensitive!”

Thanks for that tidbit of advice, Issei! Seriously, why is it that a virgin knows more about sex than me? The world truly does work in weird and mysterious ways…

“I’m close!” I finally felt myself reaching the peak.

“Me too…!” Cecily ripped her shirt open as she hugged me tightly, “Together…!”

And with that, we had both reached Heaven. Still hugging me as the white substance dripped down from her, we both smiled at each other before realizing something. When she broke free of her bondage, she not only tore up her shirt, but also snapped my belt clean in half. The rain was starting to clear up, but it’s gonna be really awkward having to ride the wagon like this…