''That was a nice fight.''
Alex, who was approaching Isabella, praised her. He then looked at the corpse of death ogre; the right side was wholly gone.
''That was some powerful skill. Even me, I will have a hard time dealing with it.'' Alex muttered.
〖Well, if you neither use Phantom Bullet, Erase, Ice bullet, then it will be hard to deal with her attack.〗Silveria commented.
''Well done, Isabella. I'm proud of you.''
Artemia's words put a smile on Isabella's lips.
''Let's take a short break. We had a tough morning.'' Alex proposed as he sat on the ground in a lotus position.
''I wonder how the girls are doing?" Alex suddenly mumbled, and because of the proximity to the other two, they heard him.
''It seems that you are worried about them. Don't worry; knowing their strength, I don't think anything will happen to them. They just need to be cautious.'' Artemia said while sipping orange juice.
''Even though I have never fought The Ice queen and the S Queen, from the hearsay, I know they are strong, probably stronger than me. So, don't worry.'' Isabella also said some comforting words to lessen Alex's worries.
While he was surprised by Isabella readily admitting to being inferior to Maria, he was even more surprised by the S Queen he just heard.
''Excuse, Who's the S Queen?"
Even though he had an idea who that person might be, he still asked just to be sure.
''Don't you know Lady Sakuya's nickname?" Isabella asked with confusion.
Alex shook his head. He only heard about Maria's and Luna's nicknames.
''Did you forget that Alex just recently came? It's normal for him not to know. The S Queen is the nickname given to Sakuya after she thrashed numerous young masters and mistresses. She even beat the shit out of my Big brother. Since that day, he came to fear her. In the start, Big brother tried to go after the three; however, unlike the other two who rejected him while staying polite, Sakuya's way was brutal. She asked for a duel; if my brother wins, she will consider becoming his woman.''
Before Artemia could continue further, she was interrupted by Alex, who raised a question.
''And what if she wins?"
Facing Alex's question, Artemia revealed a troubled expression before saying.
''She didn't say it.'' She said.
''What ?" Alex was surprised.
''It's not like she didn't want to say; however, before she could say her condition, Maria moved faster to close her mouth. That day I was there, I was disguised, so people didn't know it was me. From the feeling that I've got what Sakuya wanted to say would be without a doubt something outrageous.'' Artemia said while recalling the dangerous glint that passed through Sakuya's eyes just as she was about to announce her condition.
''I can picture what she would say,'' Alex said while imagining a naked prince running around in the capital with Sakuya sitting on top of his back, making an Ohohoho sound.
Alex shudders just by imagining such a scene; he quickly wiped away the invisible sweat on his forehead.
Inside her dimension, Silveria was laughing hard; she laughed until she started to roll on her bed holding her belly.
Ignoring her, Alex focused his attention on Artemia, the latter continued.
''As you have heard it. My brother lost, badly even. He got beaten to the point that his face was almost unrecognizable.''
''To that point?" Alex said, surprised.
Artemia nodded, ''Well, my brother isn't powerful like the rest of us, but he is smart. Governing an empire doesn't always require the emperor to be the strongest. I would have preferred him to become the emperor rather than my sister, but that would-. Forget it, let's not talk about it.''
Alex didn't pursue the matter as well, as he no interest in the throne or politics.
''Better quickly made Maria yours because my brother will never give up so easily, especially now that he learned that you made Luna your woman,'' Artemia warned him.
Chuckling, Alex said, ''No matter what he will do, Maria will never become his woman, you can be sure of that.''
Seeing Alex so confident, Artemia didn't say anything more. She stayed silent for a moment before looking at Isabella and said.
''Isabella, go scout the area near the river for a moment.''
Isabella nodded before disappearing. There was nothing to be added anymore as Isabella understood the underlying meaning of Artemia's words.
''What do you want to talk about for you to send Isabella away?" Alex turned to face Artemia after Isabella was gone.
Chuckling Artemia asked, ''You are already aware of my goal coming here, aren't you?''
''Yeah, I know.'' Alex nodded.
''I see. I must thank Elseria then.'' Artemia said.
''What is the relation between you and her? Who's she really?"
Alex couldn't help but ask this. He had this nagging feeling that Artemia and Elseria knew each other; they seemed to share some secrets.
And as expected, Alex didn't get the answer he was hoping for.
''I will let you figure that out. It isn't for me to say it.'' Artemia answered with an apologetic smile.
''I hate when you lots act like this.'' Alex didn't hide his dissatisfaction.
Artemia had expected such an outcome, so she said.
''Don't be like that. Let's talk about something interesting instead. I heard you talked with Lilith just before we came. Is that right?"
''You are well informed. As expected of the princess. Well, that's true.'' Alex didn't deny having talked with Lilith as it wasn't something that should be hidden.
''I see. Let's me guess you two made some kind of alliance to screw Lucifer. She talked about acquiring something Lucifer coveted. Did I get right?" Artemia asked with a smile.
However, to Alex, that smile wasn't angelic in the slightest; it was demonic like the one a demoness wore when everyone goes according to her plan.
Gulp!
'This woman is scary. It's a good thing I'm on her side for the moment.'
Alex thought after gulping audibly.
''You have perfectly guessed what she said. So, now I want to know what all these questions are about?"
Alex's words were simple. Would you please go straight to the point?
Artemia smiled, and just as she was about to open her mouth, they heard a loud explosion coming from Luna's direction.
BOOM!