Chapter 233 - Aftermath (1/2)
Several hours after the conflict with the church ended, Alex and the rest were relaxing in one of the spare rooms in the Dukes manor. They were resting for the night before resuming the treatments thanks to the fact that Kaori and Asia were able to relieve the symptoms that people were suffering from in mass, prolonging the time until their condition was once again fatal. When one thought about how there were already even adventurers that had left to collect Serene Stone, the entire disaster now seemed like it was already behind them and they were simply cleaning up the last of the mess. Currently while also relaxing, everyone was waiting for the Dukes servant to return after leaving to make the room arrangements for the night, while the Duke himself was still dealing with the high priest and the temple Knights. A moment later the duke himself walked in and was about to say something, but froze when he saw them there, or at least Alex.
”Is there news?” Alex asked nonchalantly, which made the Dukes brow twitch in annoyance. Currently Alex was sitting on a couch while having Anne and Asia clinging onto each side of him, while Koneko took her long time seat on his lap. He was pampering them a bit since they had been working so hard the past several hours, but everyone couldn't help wondering who was pampering who, coincidently Kaori and Valerie were doing the same thing to Hajime and Gasper. After taking a deep breath, the duke started discussing what he came to tell them.
”We've set aside rooms for all of you to use while staying in Ankaji, but maybe more of you will end up sharing than we thought? Plus I already dealt with the high priest and the others from the church, so there shouldn't be any more issues while you're here.” While ignoring the quip he made about their room arrangements, everyone's eyes sharpened when he mentioned the people from the church. Seeing their interest the duke explained,
”I had the high priest and the captain of the temple Knights executed and their heads mounted on the city gate; meanwhile the two hundred temple Knights were given a choice, join the high priest and captain in execution or be given a chance to work off their crimes for ten years.” Shizuku tilted her head in confusion at the Dukes words and asked,
”Is that a normal punishment in Tortus?” The duke smiled mischievously and answered,
”No, but I'm planning to have a serious discussion with the various slave owners in the city in order to grant the goddess's wish for peace between her children, now there's two hundred able bodied men who it'd be a waste to simply execute.” Everyone nodded in understanding as they realized the duke was planning to use the temple Knights to ease the burden of suddenly losing their slave workers. After telling them the layouts of their rooms, the duke then took his leave to deal with his seemingly never ending supply of work. After he left everyone didn't go immediately to their rooms, but instead resumed the conversation they were having before the duke arrived.
”So Asia, Valerie, and Gasper are challenging the next labyrinth with us as well?” Anne asked Alex curiously. Alex nodded and replied,
”The next age of gods magic is really useful for healing so I want them to be able to have an alternate form of healing just in case, and Gasper didn't want to be left behind by Valerie. Instead of going through when someone else does for training I figured why not just have them go through with us, but we'll still have to stop at Myuu's hometown Erisen first.” Grayfia then asked,
”Is this one only good for healing, or can it be applied to other uses as well?” Alex nodded and explained,
”This age of gods magic is called 'Regeneration magic' and it actually allows one to reverse time to an extent. It's initial application is reversing time on a wound to heal it, but as we become more proficient with it then we should be able to apply it to other uses as well.” Everyone then started talking amongst themselves excitedly at the concept of being able to reverse time, even though some ideas they mentioned were a little out there. At that moment Kuroka piped up,
”But Shirone will return to Asora once we're done here at Ankaji~Nyan. After all a great labyrinth is no place for someone in her condition.” At Kuroka's words everyone turned towards the white haired girl sitting on Alex's lap, or more specifically towards her belly.
”I still can't believe you didn't tell me Koneko! Aren't we friends?” Gasper whined at her as he had just learned that day that she was pregnant along with Asia and Valerie. Koneko rubbed her belly lightly before saying,
”... I cheated by using my mating season to get pregnant before almost everyone else, so I didn't want to say yet.” Everyone just sighed at Koneko's words as they never considered her mating season ”cheating”, though maybe it was a bit unfair. Alex smiled as he wrapped his hands around her and also started rubbing her belly gently. He was conflicted since he ultimately wouldn't see his children as often as he would want in the future due to whatever was going on in the world he was in, but he would try to make up for it whenever he could. They then continued discussing their plans and various other things, until Asia let out a cute yawn that alerted everyone to how tired she was and how tired they all were. After Koneko moved to let him stand, Alex said to everyone,
”A lot happened today, so everyone go and get some sleep for now. I'm gonna return to Asora and check on things there as well as Myuu since I didn't get a chance to earlier.” Everyone nodded in affirmation at Alex's words, while also understanding he intended to go check on Gabriel as well. After escorting the women to their shared room for the sake of appearances, Alex then disappeared into the mist.
***
”Gabriel...”
”...”
”I said there was no other choice, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to clean the oasis.”
”Hmph. I'm not talking to you.”