48 Return to Lockwood

Amari, Ai, and Cidney stood on the river bank just a short distance from the town of Lockwood as the Leviathan waited further down in the wider section of the river. Amari and Cidney shook hands as they grinned like a couple of muscle-heads.

"Thanks for the help killing that wyvern, y'all. It's been fun catching up after all these years. Next time around, Ai, you'll have to tell me about how your name changed and how you got so strong."

Ai smiled and nodded. "Thanks for healing me. Sorry for all the trouble that my recklessness caused."

Cidney waved her hands. "Ah, no biggie. At least it was entertaining! The thrill I felt when your explosion threw my ship in the air was exhilarating!" She said as she began panting, her face and eyes went red as she grinned wide enough to crack her lips.

"Ahaha, w-well, we will just have to hang out again someday." Ai said nervously as Cidney and Amari nodded.

"But no more self-sacrifice bullshit." Amari said as they both glared at Ai, causing her to chuckle nervously.

Cidney blurred away as she returned to her ship as the two made their way back to Lockwood.

Ai hummed and skipped on the way. "We should turn in the quest and see what else-" "You're on bed rest for a few days." Amari cut her off as Ai furrowed her brows.

"I'm fine, sis!"

Amari shook her head. "No, you're not. I could feel it the moment you cast that spell. Your mana strands are all shattered, right? That's gonna take a few days to heal up, at least."

Ai sighed with a pout. "Fine, but only a few days, Andromeda is working on my strands."

Amari simply nodded and folded her arms. Ever since Freyr was forged, Amari could better sense her sister's condition and this included the health of her Domain.

The two approached the gate into the town, waving at the guards that they had grown familiar with as they passed, the guards waved back as they welcomed them back.

Ai sighed. "Well, let's see how everyone is doing. Where is the idiot staying?" Ai looked at Amari with a tilt of her head.

"I think Lia told me that they were both staying at the Compass." Seeing the confusion on her face, Amari explained. "The Inn I took you to when we first got here." "Ah." Ai nodded.

"Wait, together?" She suddenly felt pity that quickly faded when she thought. 'Eh, he deserves it.'

Amari nodded and Ai sighed. "Alright, let's go check on them."

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Sitting at one of the smaller tables with two chairs, Kenji groaned as laid his head against the table, swirling the glass of ale in his hand.

'That woman is... Brutal...' Kenji had thought as he could still barely move his limbs.

The chair across from him scraped against the ground as someone had pulled it out and sat down. He looked up to see Ai sitting in the chair and Amari standing by the table, both of them grinning.

He looked up at them with a tired expression on his face. "Forget a Harem, that woman alone is almost impossible to deal with." He said weakly as he took another sip of his ale.

"Sounds like you two are getting along just fine." Ai said with a giggle.

Kenji lowered his head back onto the table and groaned again. "The woman is a succubus in human skin. I'm gonna die."

"Ah! Welcome back little Ai and miss Amari!" Lia's voice rang out from behind them, when they turned to see her, they could see her messy hair and a radiant glow from her skin.

Ai couldn't help but laugh. "Haha! Looks like you two really have been busy." Lia scratched her cheek as she blushed. "Well, we had a lot of catching up to do."

'Pffft, catching up, pretty sure you two know each other inside and out now.' She thought but decided to keep to herself and simply smiled.

"So how did it go? You two came back a few days earlier than we expected. Any luck with the troll?"

Ai's face paled at the question. "Y-y-yeah, we took care of 'IT' alright. So would you believed me if I told you that it turned out to be an Eldritch Abomination?"

"Ah, yes, those nasty things with the tenta-" She stopped mid-sentence as she recalled what she had told the group back in Azura's tent about not standing tentacles. "Oh no, dear, are you ok?" "You poor thing, you must have been traumatized!" "Do you need a hug?" "Did it hurt you?"

Kenji tugged on her robes, interrupting Lia's 'Momma-Bear-Mode' "Ah! I'm sorry, I did it again, didn't I." the girls sighed and thanked Kenji for his bravery internally.

"Well, I died, no big deal. But you should have seen the size of the explosion when I blew the fucker up! Hell, the swamps no longer exist anymore." She had a sadistic grin on her face, but Lia ignored it and only focused on the first part of her statement.

"YOU FUCKING WHAT!?" She yelled out, the entire tavern went quiet, staring at Lia in annoyance.

"Oi, Lia, chill! Yes, I died. But I came back, I'm fine, see?" Ai said as she waved her arms out like she was showing herself off.

"Seriously!? What the hell happened!?" Lia asked, quieter but still a little loud.

Ai sighed and began to explain the events that had occurred in the swamp and the river.

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"My goodness! But if you knew you were going to pass out, why did you stand somewhere that you knew you would fall off the ship?" Lia had listened to the entire story with a mix of fear, excitement, and worry.

"Like I said earlier, I didn't expect the explosion to be that powerful. A bright light blinded everyone for several seconds so unfortunately, my plan didn't go exactly as I had hoped. Nonetheless, they still healed me and brought me back, so I'm fine now."

"But you're mana strands surely had shattered from that, right? That's gonna take a long time to heal from! Time that you don't really have." Lia said with a worried expression.

Ai nodded. "They did shatter, but I have an, erm, ability that regenerates my mana strands quickly, I'll be back to normal in just a few days." She explained, almost forgetting to keep Andromeda's presence within her Domain a secret.

"Hm, that's good, but you still shouldn't be so reckless, what if your core cracked, or worse explode, that would have easily killed you with no hope of resurrection, even through the most powerful healing spells!"

"See, sis? Be more careful!" Amari slammed her fist on the table, causing Kenji to groan.

"Ah! Love, can I ask you to watch over Ai for a few days." Lia said as she glared over at Ai.

"Mn, sure. Just let me rest for a few days myself first." At that, Lia blushed.

'Could it really have been that bad?'

Ai looked around and noticed that some of the patrons that appeared to also be staying here looked at Kenji with a mix of pity and envy.

'I guess it really is that bad, poor boy.'

"No worries, Lia, you keep on training with Kenji, I'll take care of lil sis." Amari said with a grin.

'Training? Big sis, do you not realized what they've been doing since we left?'

But Lia just smiled and nodded. "Yes, 'training'. That sounds like a good idea, come on, love. Let's go 'train' some more~" She said with a smirk as she dragged Kenji upstairs with a smirk on her face. Kenji looked back at Ai and Amari with a face full of tears.

"Oi, sis, if they keep that up, Kenji is gonna die." Ai said with her face in her palm.

"Eh? But isn't he a warrior? And she is a mage, right? Shouldn't she be the exhausted one?" Amari asked with legitimate confusion on her face.

"Sis, they are lovers, and what do lovers do in the bedroom? Something like training except in bed?"

Amari spent a few seconds deep in thought, until her face lit up bright red. "Th-th-th-they are doing THAT!?" Amari yelled out, much to the annoyance of the other patrons.

Ai furrowed her brows and scratched her head. "Oi, sis, your Intelligence score is showing again."

"I-i-i-i-i didn't realize!" Amari stuttered as she turned away, still blushing hard.

Ai giggled seeing how her sister was acting.