A Father's Duty

After driving the crowd out, I went back to making breakfast.

"Looks like your business is really famous." Father said in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Well, for many people to traverse WoD for a bite of my food, I can say its indeed famous. Only fools would come to this 'cursed' place you said and eat here. Apparently, I have lots of fools coming in here." I said with a chuckle.

"Are you sure about making this place a paradise?" Father asked.

"Of course. I'm planning on making this place a paradise for my kids." I said and Father nodded.

After making breakfast, Mother and the chipmunks, with Irene, have smelled the food so they came down.

"Father, what's for breakfast?" Kagura asked as her stomach rumbled making us laugh and Kagura's face became red due to embarrassment.

"Well, since Kagura is already hungry, I made magical eggs for breakfast." I said as it aroused the kids interest specially when they heard magic.

"What's a magical egg?" Pitou asked in curiosity?

"It can transform." I said to tease their curiosity.

"It can transform? Like Fenrir?" Erza asked.

"Yes, but its more magical. Want to see it?" I asked. The dish I made is 'Furikake Gohan' that Souma made in his entrance exam.

The kids interest peaked and they were excited to see how an egg could transform.

I then showed them the bowl of piping hot rice and a bowl of ordinary eggs.

"Where's the magic, father?" Asked Kagura.

"Do you not see it?" I said while chuckling making Kagura puff her cheeks and stare at the rice and the bowl as the other two stared at it as well.

'Jiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii'

After staring at it for a while, the chipmunks gave up as they couldn't see what's so magical in it.

"I don't see it, father. Is it really magical?" Kagura asked with some doubts.

"Yes, it is magical. Watch and see." I said as I took the egg bowl and poured it into the rice and the broth jelly started melting under the heat of the rice, the broth jelly then melted and covered the rice and the egg making it glisten and the chipmunks excitement shot through the roof.

They never expected something ordinary suddenly transform into something magical.

"Uwaaaaaaah. Look! Look! It transformed like Father said!" Kagura said and nudged the other two waking them up from their stupor.

Seeing their reaction, a smug smile appeared in my face only to be pinched by Irene to the side.

"What?" I asked her.

"You're tricking your daughters again." She said.

"But it transformed. Isn't that what matters?" I retorted but Irene pinched my waist once more making me silent.

Seeing this scene, Father and Mother smiled and thought that they can now leave and go back since there's nothing going wrong. They would also visit from time to time.

After breakfast, I coaxed the children to play with their grandparents for now because I'm going to go with Irene to Alvarez for two reasons. One is to accompany her as she's going to inform them that she's going to be on the sidelines for now since she's pregnant, and two, is I'm going to buy livestock to raise and lots of seeds to plant. I also have to make the malt and store them and add them to the beer to improve its taste albeit a little.

I also plan on buying sugarcane to make rum and corn to make bourbon whiskey. I hoped that in the future, I have something like a time chamber made specifically for alcohol or spirits for aging.

After we flew to Alvares, I followed Irene as she directly went to August's quarters because the King rarely comes back and prefers travelling, researching, and foraging rare herbs. The guards were respectful on the way after seeing Irene, they have also heard of the rumor that Irene's husband wiped the floor of Mistress Irene's top follower, Heine and Juliet, in one move. Although they were suspicious about it, they don't want to be on the chopping board offering himself to a predator.

When Irene knocked on his door, a kid's laughter took our attention as the door opened with August smiling from ear to ear. On his back is a cute little lady, that in my estimation is a 2 years old kid, and she peeked her head out.

"Hello." She said after sticking her head out.

"Hello there little lady. Uncle brought you some good stuff." I said and took the cookie jar from my inventory. I then offered the kid a cookie and she seemed reluctant to accept it. She then looked at August as if asking permission.

When August nodded his head, she took the cookie from my hand and took a bite. Her eyes lit up.

"So dewicious!" She exclaimed.

"Want more?" I asked as she nodded her head like a chicken pecking on the soil.

"Come in first. Let's talk inside." August invited us and we went inside.

Since their talk concerns their Kingdom, I don't care at all so I focused my attention on the little lady eating cookies with gusto.

"What's your name, little lady?" I asked her after offering her another cookie.

"Gwandpa August said my name is Bwandish μ." She said and took another bite of cookie.

"A good name. What will Brandish be after she grows up?" I asked her.

"Uhhhh. I want to be like Gwandpa August." She said making me smile.

"Then you have to work hard to be like Grandpa August." I said and patted her head as she giggled under it.

"Heehee." She giggled and we played for 30 minutes before Irene and August concluded their talks. Because nothing too major is happening this year, he let Irene be on the sidelines. Also because Irene declared that if there are people who have problems with it, they can talk to her or her husband directly.

August knew that I am not a simple man especially when he saw me wearing the mask and he felt like I am a different person. He also knew that what he saw that day was just the tip of the iceberg and knew that I still have lots of cards to play which makes it troublesome to even him who studied a whole lot of magic and Mastered them.

When we were about to leave, Brandish looked at us with a sad expression.

"Uncle, will you visit Bwandish again?" She asked as I simply chuckled.

"Ask your Grandpa August to bring you tomorrow for breakfast maybe you can play with my daughters." I said to Brandish and patted her head once more before thinking for a bit and gave her another cookie jar.

"Eat it with consideration, okay? Eating too much will make your tummy ache. Do you want your tummy to hurt?" I asked as she shook her head side by side.

After leaving the place, Irene looked at me strangely and I noticed it.

"What?" I asked.

"The kid seemed awfully close to you already and you dote on her like she's one of your daughters." She said.

"What? Can't you just admire your husband's innate charm? Can't I just say that I'm a natural and its my calling to take care of childrens? Or are you jealous I'm not doting on you? Ouch. Fine! Fine! Stop!" I joked and in return? Irene simply transformed her tender hand into a dragon's and pinched me in the waist.

After leaving August's courtyard, Irene separated with me. She needs to check on Juliet and Heine and their progress while I went to the local market and asked where to buy livestock to raise.

They all told me to go to Warren's Ranch. I have also asked them if there are other person and they said a bunch of Ranches to check from but they do not guarantee the quality that they could provide compared to Warren's Ranch.

I then asked them its location and pointed them out to me. I forgot to ask some kind of map from August since Irene's maps were unreliable. If my guess is correct only she could understand what kind of signs are there in her map.

I started getting lost for 10 mins and decided to ask someone where to buy Alvares map since this is my second time coming to this place. After getting my map, I directly head straight to Warren's Ranch and asked the system to scan the cattles, chickens, and hodras.

The system's scans made me satisfied since their quality is indeed really good. I could probably buy a lot from here.

When I went inside the ranch, the one at the front desk only took a glance to me before continuing to doze off.

"Hello, may I ask if I could buy bulk of livestock in this place?" I asked politely. The person at the front desk stood up and yawned and ask the newbie to deal with me. Seeing his reaction, I had a huge smirk on my face and immediately hid it before people noticed. The newbie then approached me as I repeated my question to her.

"Yes, how many livestock would you buy?" She asked.

"I would buy all of your Goats, bulls, cattles, chickens, and 6 hodras." I dropped the bomb at her and the man who passed the opportunity to the newbie got shocked before regaining his confidence. He saw that I have no cash on me and was sure that he's only taunting.

"This... I'm afraid I can't process this much of transaction." She said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Uhhh... I might mess up this deal. I'm just a newbie, sir." She said

"Its gonna be fine. Is this your first transaction? If so its your lucky day. Go on and process them. As for the dropoff point, you can just put them at the edge of WoD. My partner will took the reigns from there." Before going to Alvares, I have already told Fenrir to help and guide the livestock back at the tavern.

The newbie then took out a large book and started looking for data she then looked at me.

"Sir, are they for breeding or butchering?" She asked as I nodded. She then continued.

"Sir, there are only four high-quality cattles available for sale as the rest are breeding pairs and the breeding season has just started. As for the bulls, there are only three of them for sale and they are high-quality as well. As for the chicken, you are in luck sir, there are twenty chicken with 15 roosters. There are only 5 pairs of goat available left. Lastly, the hodras, only 4 are available for sale." She said and looked at me waiting for my response.

"Why are the numbers low?" I asked.

"Sir, the medium-quality ones are strictly prohibited from being sold to foreigner. It is specifically declared by the owner, Mr. Warren, himself." She said as I sighed.

'It doesn't matter, I could easily make their numbers grow with the help of the farming space.' I thought.

I also thought of buying livestock from the system after scanning them but I don't have some points on me right now.

"Then I'll take them all." I said and the newbie's face lit up in joy and started calculating everything.

The man who gave the transaction to the newbie, sneered as he thought I wouldn't be able to pay for it.

"Sir, it would be a total of 16.5 million jewels." She said.

I simply waved my hand and 17 bags containing 1 million jewel each appeared at the front desk causing a massive uproar not because of the money but because I'm a space mage. The man who refused to deal with me paled and envious at the same time. If he was the one who closed the deal, not only had he gained an impression to me, he also might've been able to earn so much commission. He also paled after learning I'm a space mage. He thought that I would take revenge for not respecting him.

There are literally few people who have space magic and all of them are top-class. Disrespecting a mage like that is akin to cutting of your whole career.

"Here, process everything. I'll take my leave." I said and left the place. I'm not worried of them scamming me, I could just destroy them if I want to. My wife is a spriggan, a mere ranch wouldn't be able to hold her down.

I then made my way to check out on Irene. Since I know where they are usually training and with a reliable map at my hand, I didn't stumble here and there and directly went to Irene squad's training hall, the guards let me pass through since they've already known me as Irene's husband and because they were there when they saw me defeating their top member with only one move. I then saw Irene talking with Heine and Juliet. As I made my way through them, Juliet and Heine saw me and greeted me.

"Its been a while. How're you doing?" I asked the two.

"We're fine. Anyway, is it true? Is mistress Irene pregnant again?" Juliet asked as Heine gave her a smack in her head.

"Mistress Irene have already told us about it, why are you asking again?" She said.

"What, I'm just confirming things?" She said as I chuckled and answered.

"Yes, she is indeed pregnant." I said as Juliet just gave a long 'ohhhhhhh'

"Did you two get stronger while we're gone? Or are you slacking?" I asked the two and Juliet paled.

"I didn't slack off, but the other one. I don't know." Heine threw Juliet off the bus and said the truth.

"Then be careful of my wife's punishment." I said and smirked as the two felt a dangerous aura in their backs and saw Irene with a smile on her face.

Soon the two women faced the wrath of the Scarlet Despair.

--------------------------

Battle Pass for TI10 just came out and i must say... I'm going to drop this to grind BP levels.

It was a nice ride with y'all. Though it didn't reach a hundred chapters I did enjoy writing this novel.

I would also like to let y'all know and feel that

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Its just a prank bro. Just kidding. I'm gonna grind, work, and write at the same time. After all, College taught me how to multi-task efficiently. Doing 5 homework and reviewing for quiz, its easy peazy. Don't worry ain't dropping anytime soon. I can already feel the hate. Mamba out!