“Brother, what is happening?” Iris asked. “Where did those skeletons come from?”
“Eiko copied my Summoning Skills,” Lux answered. “Iris, the baby Slime you hatched from the egg I gave you might be the strongest Slime in existence.”
“Brother, Eiko is our daughter. Of course, she’s bound to be the strongest.”
“Um. Now that you mention it, how can my daughter be a weakling?”
“I know, right?”
—-
While Lux and Iris were spectating from the side, Eiko was spitting one spell after another at the Unicorn that was trying to bully her.
Astra merely looked at the baby Slime with contempt as it deftly evaded her attacks with ease. For the attacks that were impossible to evade, it would just use Blink and instantly appear several meters away from its original position.
If Astra didn’t have the Blink skill, it would be hard pressed to fight against the skeletons that Eiko had summoned. However, since it could use Blink, it had complete control of the current pace of the battle.
Not wanting to lose, Eiko copied Lux’s skill, Mana Drain [EX], and tried to drain the Unicorn’s mana in an attempt to prevent it from Blinking away.
When the baby Slime activated her Mana Drain skill, the Unicorn instantly felt that some of its mana was being siphoned to the baby Slime who had its mouth open wide.
Neighing in anger, Astra Blinked towards Eiko’s location, wanting to punish her for trying to defy it. However, just as Astra appeared in front of Eiko, the baby slime disappeared using her own Blink ability.
As soon as Eiko reappeared in the distance, she spat a Void Arrow towards the Unicorn, planning to blind it. Unfortunately for her, the one she was fighting against was a veteran beast.
Astra also blinked away, and this time, it Blinked behind Eiko.
Sensing that the enemy was behind her, Eiko Blinked away, preventing herself from being pressed down by Astra’s hoof.
Starting from that moment, both beasts fought by using Blinks consecutively. The Unicorn was doing its best to get close to the baby slime, while Eiko was doing her best to escape from Astra.
This game of tag lasted for two-full minutes before the baby slime reappeared in the corner of the room, panting for breath. Eiko had used all of her mana with the constant Blinking, and could no longer move away from the Unicorn who had a devilish smile on its face.
Just as Astra was about to close in on the baby Slime, whose body had almost turned into a small puddle due to fatigue, a skeleton with burning golden eyes in its sockets appeared in front of it.
Soon, a clang resounded in the training field as Astra’s horn met Diablo’s shield head-on.
Lux’s Named Creature held his ground, as he blocked Astra’s attack. Although Astra was stronger than Diablo, his appearance had unnerved the Unicorn, which made the latter unable to use its full power, resulting in their clash becoming a tie.
“Alright Astra, I think that’s enough,” Lux said as he extended both of his hands to scoop up the exhausted baby slime that was lying on the floor. “Eiko is still a baby. Don’t bully her too much.”
The Unicorn snorted, but it no longer pursued the matter. Its main reason was because it felt that it was beneath it to keep bullying a newborn baby monster. Astra only wanted to teach Eiko a lesson for trying to disobey her superior.
It didn’t expect Eiko to have a stubborn personality with no intention of backing down, which resulted in the short skirmish between the two of them.
Iris looked at this scene with a smile on her face. As a Beast Tamer, she understood that Astra was just feeling a bit jealous of Eiko because Iris was pampering her. Among her five mythical beasts, it was Astra who had the least tolerance towards strangers approaching Iris casually.
Luckily, after repeatedly reminding it to not attack the students in the academy who were trying to get close to Iris, the Unicorn finally managed to reign in its emotions.
Unfortunately, while it had developed sufficient tolerance against Humans, it still didn’t like other Monsters being chummy with its mother tamer.
“Pa…,” Eiko said as she weakly raised her head. “Wuwuwuwu.”
The baby slime started to cry, and tears streamed down from her eyes. Lux lightly patted her head and allowed Eiko to cry on his chest.
Truth be told, he was shocked at how much of a Battle Junky Eiko was. Maybe she knew deep inside that Astra wouldn’t really hurt her, so she decided to fight against the Unicorn in order to get back at it.
Unfortunately, the baby Slime was still a baby. Even with her cheat-like abilities, she was still not a match for a battle-hardened veteran that had protected Iris from the dangers of Elysium.
“It’s fine, Eiko,” Lux coaxed the baby slime. “Let’s get back at it when you grow stronger, okay? Just give it a year and we will be clapping Astra’s butt cheeks.”
Astra neighed angrily at Lux as if telling him “Bro, what the f*ck? You are a bad influence on your daughter!”
Iris, who had also approached the crying baby, pouted as she lightly pinched Lux’s ears.
“Brother, don’t teach Eiko to carry a grudge,” Iris said with a serious expression. “She’s still young and must be taught what is right and wrong. Do you want her to grow up to be a rebellious child?”
Lux only smiled as he continued to pat the crying slime’s head. Although he was still struggling to grasp the concept of treating a Monster as his daughter, he thought that it might not be such a bad idea.
Perhaps, feeling his change of heart, Eiko’s body relaxed in his hand and fell asleep.
Iris peered at the sleeping baby’s face with a smile.
“Brother, raising a Monster is not easy,” Iris said. “Some people treat them as pets. Others treat them as friends, while the majority treat them as tools. I hope that you won’t treat Eiko as a tool in order to advance in Elysium. If you do, I’ll make sure to take her away from you. Anyway, I can raise our daughter myself!”
Lux glanced at the young lady who was staring at him with a serious expression on her face. Clearly, she meant every word that she had said, and would definitely take Eiko away from him if he treated the latter wrongly.
“I promise that I won’t treat her as a tool,” Lux met Iris’ serious gaze with his own. “I will also not treat her as a pet. Since you wanted to raise her as part of our family then I will do my best to treat her as one. However, I admit that this concept is new to me. Please, give me time to adjust.”
“Oh~ You don’t have to worry about that, Brother. If you’re not comfortable calling Eiko your daughter, that’s fine too. When I turn sixteen, I’ll ask grandma to help me prepare our wedding,” Iris said with a smile. “When that happens, we can make a real baby. That way, you will have plenty of time to practice how to become a father.”
‘… Well, that escalated rather quickly,’ Lux thought as he took a step back, while looking at the young beauty whose eyes started to turn dreamy. The Half-Elf didn’t reject the idea of the two of them getting married.
However, after regaining his memories, he remembered his main goal and the reason why he had to go to Elysium. In order to make his stepsister and his grandmother happy, he must do his best to find a way to keep the world of Solais from dying.
Only by doing so would they have a future and a place where they could raise a family together.
As Lux was lost in his thoughts, working out how he would achieve his goal, Iris had already closed the distance and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t hold him tightly, and even allowed the Half-Elf to break out of her hold if he really wanted to do it.
“Brother Lux, I know that you might be tired of hearing me repeat things over and over again, but these are my real feelings,” Iris said softly as she gazed at her beloved stepbrother’s beautiful green eyes that she liked so much. “Although it was Grandma who tried to matchmake the two of us, I sincerely hope that you will consider making me your wife.”
“I promise that I will do my best to make you happy. I know that for the longest time, your goal has been to go to Elysium. I respect that, and I wish for you to succeed as well. However, know this, I have liked you for a very long time.”
Iris smiled as she pressed her finger over Lux’s lips in order to stop him from saying anything.
“Don’t give me an answer now.” Iris looked at him with a tender gaze. “Think about it and give me your answer in a year or two. But know this, if your answer is no then I will have no choice but to ask for Grandma’s help to tie you up and have the two of us wed whether you like it or not.”
The corner of Lux’s lips twitched. Iris had managed to pluck his heartstrings with the first half of her confession. However, everything went south at the end, which made him unable to decide whether he should laugh or cry at her subtle threat of a shotgun wedding.
“Understood.” Lux nodded his head in understanding. He had long known that Iris liked him, and he was no longer a child who would pretend that he didn’t understand. Since that was the case, he would also be open with his own feelings, and ask her a question that had been in his mind for quite some time.
“Um, Iris, I have a serious question to ask you.”
“Go ahead, brother.”
“Let’s say, for example, that I fell in love with someone else. What would you do then?”
The corner of Iris’ lips curled up into a smirk as she looked at Lux’s handsome face.
“Whoever they may be, they must first get my approval,” Iris answered. “Then and only then will I allow them to enter your harem.”
Lux blinked as he stared back at Iris who was looking back at him with a smile.
“You’re not angry about me having other ladies aside from you?” Lux asked.
“Well, I will be lying if I said that I don’t feel sad about it,” Iris replied. “However, if they were capable of making you fall in love with them then that means they have the qualifications to get my approval. So, dear brother of mine, promise me this. If you truly find someone that you love, do not hide her from me, okay?”
“Understood. I can make this promise to you.”
“Good. That is all I ask, Brother.”
Iris reluctantly took a step back as she looked at the Half-Elf in front of her, who had grown up with her since she was young.
Even now, she didn’t know if the feelings she had for him were familial love or true love. However, one thing was clear. She liked Lux from the bottom of her heart.
She also knew that Lux liked her, too. It was only her father, Alexander, who opposed their relationship. Although the Headmaster of Barbatos Academy never talked about it, Iris could tell that he didn’t think that Lux was worthy of becoming her groom due to the latter’s repeated failures to get the qualifications to enter Elysium.
‘Just you wait, Father,’ Iris thought with an amused expression on her face. ‘Brother Lux isn’t the incompetent person that you thought he was. I can’t wait to see the look on your face when he wins the tournament that you have prepared in order to look for my fiance.’
The Princess of Barbatos Academy smiled sweetly. Although there were many geniuses that would join the competition to win her hand in marriage, for some reason, she wasn’t afraid.
She didn’t know where this confidence of hers was coming from, but after seeing Lux’s Soul Book today, she understood that his potential was limitless.
Deep inside, she was very happy. How could she not be? She knew that if Lux was given a year or two, he would definitely surpass all those so-called geniuses that had graduated from the Apostle Grade and stepped into the rank of Initiates.
Her gaze softened when she saw Eiko crawl towards Lux’s neck to give him a kiss. Although this little family of theirs might look like they were merely ‘playing house’ to other people, Iris firmly believed that one day her wishes, and dreams, would finally become a reality.