Extra 9. Looking for a Flower, But Finding Gold

***Author's note: this chapter is from Reika's perspective.

I tightened the belt around my pants and double checked to make sure I had everything prepared. Cyrus was beside me doing the same while Astra sat on our bed kicking her feet. Billy sat beside her, his nose buried in a book he had stolen from the depths of the palace library.

Astra spoke in a childish voice, "Do you really have to go?"

I nodded, "We do, sweetie. But don't worry, Uncle Gonza is going to take care of you while we are gone."

"Oh, I like Uncle Gonza."

Cyrus hummed, "I don't understand why he's so afraid of demons, yet he's so accepting of Astra."

She puffed out her cheeks, "Because I'm cute!"

I chuckled and walked over to give her a kiss on the cheek, "Yes you are."

"Hehe!"

"Now, Astra. I'm going to need you to make sure Lene doesn't get into too much trouble while we are gone. Do you think you can handle that?"

She nodded, "If I can't, Billy can. She always plays with him."

His ears picked up on this and he grinned, "She summons such delicious spiders!"

Astra glared at him and spoke in a harsh tone much unlike her voice from before, "I told you to stop eating those!"

He stuck out his tongue and returned to his book.

Cyrus came up behind me and rubbed my back, "Ready?"

I lifted my head to look into his clear eyes, "I'm ready."

Cyrus nodded and looked over at the children on our bed, "Don't get into trouble."

Astra sang, "I won't~"

"I will~" Billy sang along with her.

I rolled my eyes and gave Astra a kiss on the head then ruffled up Billy's hair. I used the coin to summon an entryway and walked through it with Cyrus, arriving in a dense forest with a single footpath.

We walked along it holding hands. As I looked side to side, I realized Cyrus was just staring solely at me. I pursed my lips, "Are you looking for the flower?"

He suddenly hugged me and nestled his head onto my neck. I shivered with a twitching smile as I felt the hot air blown from his mouth onto my neck. "I already found my flower."

I giggled, "Stop it. I'm not a flower."

He picked me up and littered my face with kisses, "You're right. You are my Rei of sunshine."

I laughed and wrapped my arms around his neck. As I started to return his kisses, it grew more and more heated before I remembered where we were.

I quickly tapped his shoulder and pulled my head back, "Let's not get distracted. We need to find that flower."

I hopped down ignoring his pout and looked up towards the sky. The tops of the trees were so dense, I couldn't even see a single cloud.

It seems like air travel isn't really an option.

"Should we try looking off the path?"

"Hmm. We might get lost if we try that." He closed his eyes for a bit and reopened them, "It seems there's a small town a few miles down. We can walk there and get a room at the inn, then see if the locals know anything. That's probably the better option."

I grinned, "See, this is why I leave the ideas to you. I would probably get myself lost in the woods if it wasn't for you."

He nuzzled his head against my neck, "Although we would be lost together and that wouldn't be so bad."

"I don't know about that. The last time I got lost in the woods I accidentally got a demon child out of it." I paused, "...Huh. I guess that isn't so bad."

He took my hand and started tugging me toward the forest, "So shall we get lost?"

I laughed and shook my head, "Nah, let's head to the town. I'd like to see how different it is from our Kingdom."

He nodded submissively, "That's fine too."

I stood on my toes and whispered into his ear, "We can get a room and finally have to stop worrying about the children interrupting us."

I gave him a quick peck on the lips and walked forward, giggling at his frozen expression. He quickly snapped out of it and hurried after me with a drunken look on his face.

"So how did you know the town was this way?"

"I can hear it."

"You can hear it?" I tugged on his ears, "That's pretty impressive."

He chuckled in a low tone, "I can do a lot more things now."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

He scooped me up into his arms and stepped on top of a golden sword that had materialized under his feet, "Like that."

My mouth was wide open as he flew forward on the road that was slowly getting larger and larger. I looked down at his feet in surprise, "Where'd you learn that?"

"Oh, Hazel taught me it."

I blinked, "So you can use Holy Magic?"

He nodded, "Not as well as her, but it seems so."

"Wow… When did that start?"

"I guess it was always interfering…" He paused for a moment before smiling, "But then someone opened my eyes and made me see a lot of possibilities."

I tilted my head in confusion, but he just hugged me tighter.

Eventually, we made it to the town where we hopped off the sword. Cyrus gently put me down and held my hand as we walked away from the swords and toward the center of the town. As we walked through the town, my mouth was wide open as I glanced from side to side. Each building was a bright vibrant color, looking similar to a miniature castle.

Cyrus noticed my starry-eyed look, "Do you like it?"

I let out a squeal, "Even the bricks are multicolored!"

He chuckled, "Should I be worried you want to leave our boring palace?"

"Nah, I'm a city girl." I continued to glance around with appreciation, "This place is beautiful, but nothing beats our Capital."

The deeper we got into the "busy" part of town, the more I realized everyone stared at us with grim, uninviting faces. I noticed their stares were one of nosiness rather than curiosity.

"I don't think they get a lot of visitors…"

"Historically, they are rather distrustful of visitors. Orien and Longez have fought for centuries over the right to own each other's land. Neither was gifted with as much mana and magic as the Odalis Kingdom so it got a bit rough. This town is part of the border so they've been caught up in the struggle."

"Even though they are so hard-to-reach?"

"I think that's why they don't look too happy. They probably assume we are here to cause trouble since it takes a lot of effort to travel here." He pointed at a building, "Luckily this town is large enough to have an inn we can stay at."

As he brought me over to the inn, I looked around at everyone anxiously. While their town was exciting and new, I didn't really enjoy being the center of attention. I tugged on him, "Let's go in quickly."

He opened the door for me and we stepped in together where a few people were sitting at tables. All conversations stopped as they turned to stare at us with distrust. Cyrus walked over to the worker with me clinging onto his sleeve.

"Can we have a room for the night?"

The middle-aged woman looked a bit rough around the edges, but she was surprisingly fit and youthful, "Where are you from?"

"The Odalis Kingdom."

She looked us up and down, "You can prove that?"

I looked over at Cyrus who was already pulling out papers. He showed them to her, "Does this help?"

I glanced at the documents and realized our names were incorrect.

"It could be faked."

Yikes. Spot on.

He put out a few coins in our currency, "How about this?"

She crossed her arms, "Hm."

"Um." I stepped over and created some everlasting ice in the shape of the woman across from me, "Is this enough?"

She paused for a moment, staring at the ice without a change in expression. "You can use magic without wands?"

I glanced at Cyrus who forced on a smile, "She can."

The woman quickly snatched up the ice sculpture and coins. She put them under the bar and grabbed a set of keys. She then tossed the keys over to Cyrus who caught it without blinking an eye.

"May the King and Queen of Odalis have fun on their trip."

I flinched, "H-How'd you know?"

Didn't the documents lie!?

She rolled her eyes, "We may be far away from civilization, but we still get the news."

As I walked away with Cyrus to our room, I leaned over and whispered, "What does that mean?"

He whispered back, "Only the Queen is able to use magic without a wand."

I pursed my lips, "I'm not the only one. What about Hazel? Demons? All the other arrivers?"

He reminded me with a smirk, "Out of all of them, who can control every single attribute with their endless amount of mana?"

I closed my mouth and stared ahead with a blank look, "Huh."

He pinched my side playfully, "My wife is so amazing. I'm so lucky to have her."

I blushed as I took away the key and unlocked the door, "Prove it."

We both laughed as the door closed behind us. Learning our lesson from before, we quickly set up a soundproof barrier. I hopped onto the bed and rubbed the sheets, "Ready to test out the integrity of a countryside bed?"

…After having a refreshing night, Cyrus and I walked through the town looking around. This time, people didn't seem to view us with distrust, instead they ignored us.

I guess the inn keeper told everyone about us.

Cyrus asked curiously, "Should we see if they know about where to find the flower?"

I shushed him with excited eyes, "We have time. Let's explore a bit first!"

Without waiting for his answer, I pulled him through the town, looking at each monument and historical building. As we explored, I felt as though we were back in my previous world on vacation. I chuckled to myself, "I wonder what arriver created this place."

We walked past an alley near the inn, triggering a gentle breeze to wander through. The breeze of air curved between every building and weaved between people until finally making it to it's target. As I was smiling, I suddenly stopped in my tracks when that breeze gently brushed past my cheek.

"Reika? What is it?"

I slowly turned and looked over at the alley with my breath stuck in my throat. I rushed towards it, my heart racing wildly as my blood pumped violently.

It…

It can't be…

Cyrus ran after me as I sprinted to the alley where I abruptly stopped in my tracks. He nearly knocked me over as he skidded to a stop, "What is it!?"

My eyes stared straight ahead at the dumpster where all their trash was currently being thrown to from the inn. A few bags were being ripped open and moved as if an animal was clawing through them. As Cyrus peered around my body, he finally noticed the very thing I was staring at without breathing.

A small boy who looked to be a toddler was clawing through the trash, trying to find any leftovers of food. Once he did, he shoved it into his mouth and continued searching for more.

Cyrus's eyes widened, "Reika is that-"

The boy heard us speak and spun around with a growl. Seeing two strangers, he growled like an animal and crawled backward until he was hidden safely under a pile of crates.

Seeing him hide under those crates made me remember the time I found him hiding under a table. Just like back then, he was filthy and terrified. The only difference this time was the weird inhuman growl coming from the back of his throat.

I kneeled as my eyes started to tear up, "Hey, little guy… Don't be afraid."

I held out my hands and created an ice dragon. It was small enough to fit on my palm and dance around my fingers. It flew towards the child, rolling on the ground to show how harmless it was.

The growls immediately stopped as the boy stared at the dragon in a trance. The dragon flew at him slowly and wrapped around his neck, rubbing its smooth cold surface along the boys cheeks. A giggle came out of his throat, melting both my and Cyrus's heart.

Tears flowed down freely as I reached my hands out to him, "Come to Mama."

The boy slowly looked up, his dark eyes shimmering with hope and amazement. He crawled out of the trash heap staring at me with slight fear. However, his gaze held more desire than anything.

I quickly swooped him into my arms, hugging him tight as I sobbed, "Mama's got you…. Mama's finally got you…"

Cyrus knelt down beside me, resting his hand on my shoulder, "Reika… is this?"

I sucked in my sobs and moved so that the boy could see Cyrus.

"Moni… This is your father."