Chương 387: Chapter 360. Lucas's Half-Hearted Resistance

kiss...

"..." kiss..." I'm up! I'm up!"" See? We told you that you would use up too much mana!"" Darling, while I'm thankful for you volunteering to bring My Family back home quickly, I'm not happy about you forcing yourself into a state of Mana Exhaustion... Even if we do get to kiss because of it..."" Sorry... I thought I could make it here... I guess I bit off more than I could chew... Wait a minute? What's wrong with my lip?"" That's my punishment to you, My Love."" Really, in front of Liz?"

I was currently on the dirt ground of Midori Village, instead of having the Mori Family take a few months to head back home, I decided to just bring them back with Paula's Portal ability. Everything was going well, until I actually landed on the ground. To be fair, I brought, the Mori Family, including Lucas, as well as the carriage and luggage they brought with them...

Along with some farewell gifts in the forms of ice cream and cakes, as well as some wheels of cheese for Les and a freezer based off of the chest freezers from my world that I've had the Blacksmiths make for the ice cream... And a fridge the Blacksmiths have been making recently... Along with my Wives and I as well... Maybe it was too much?

I was able to get everything through, but it looks like my jumping through the Portal was a bridge too far, I've been Tempering as much as I could the past few months, but I guess I was overconfident? If I had to think of an average, I've only been Tempering about every 3 days for the past 8 months because of how busy I've been. I guess this is something to remember as motivation to take my Tempering more seriously?" It's fine... I've covered her eyes!"

Maria gave a wink to Sarah and Anna to quiet down my complaint. I don't think Maria understood what I was trying to say about public decency. I quickly picked myself up off the ground and did the only thing I can do when I see Sarah and Anna concerned about my wellbeing." Sorry... I'll try not to do that again... For now."" Do you have enough mana to get back, or should you rest for a bit, Darling?"" I have enough for all 4 of us."" That's a shame..."

I decided to ignore Sarah's small mumble that I heard and swat some of the dirt off of me. Now that everyone was here, we were going to have lunch with the Mori Family before heading back to Paradise, where I would work till the King's Summit next month. Thankfully, with Emily and Colin's help, I was actually ahead of schedule for once. If we all kept going with our current momentum, I'd imagine we'd be finished with time to spare about a week or 2 before the King's Summit." So, with that, why don't we-" /WHACK!

/" AH!" Just as Maria was about to say something, a loud whack rang out all around us, I heard Lucas yell in pain, so I quickly turned around to see what just happened." YOU IDIOT! HOW DARE YOU JUST LEAVE ME HERE!" /WHACK! WHACK! WHACK! /" Wait! It's... Not... My... Fault!" /THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! / Lucas was doing his best to dodge the actually somewhat pitiful taps from his attacker. It was another Dodomeki.

Her appearance was striking, not because of me falling for her or anything, but her skin, hair and eye color were all the same color, hot pink. It was surprising to see, since most Demons I've run into have different skin, hair and eye color. But more importantly than that... This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source." Can... You... Just.... Give... Me.... A.... Second.... Selina!" Lucas couldn't seem to gain any ground right now...

I was starting to feel bad about it." Uhm... Should we help him?"" No... This is normal. She's just very emotional right now." Anna quickly shut down my suggestion." Oh dear, it seems like she's really missed him."" Honestly... I told the boy to bring her with him. You'd think he would've heeded my words."" He's just still in denial, but honestly, how he still is, should be studied. I mean, don't you remember how angry he got at all the boys when they tried to take Selina out for the Winter Forest Dance?

He didn't even get that angry when either Emma or Anna had the same requests."" Maybe I spent too much time training him?"" It's too late to regret about it now, the boy is 26 after all and she's 25. They've chased off any other option for either of them, this story only ends one way. She's all set and ready, but for some reason, he's experiencing cold feet... Did we fail somewhere as Parents?" Lucas's parents seemed to be lamenting their parenting style.

Les took a chance to lift his wife's spirits after the silence filled the air for a few moments." Now, now, Mar... I don't think that's quite right, I mean, Anna got married quite quickly... And she did pick... A good partner. Lucas.... Is just Lucas." They seemed content to sit and watch the fireworks from the front row. As I looked around, I could see that a small crowd was gathering around us of the villagers... And they seemed to be betting on the amount of time it'll take for the beating to end...

I guess this is more normal here than I thought? Eventually, the ones that bet 20 minutes won a good amount of copper coins and the ones who bet for 15 or 25 minutes could be seen cursing their own luck. Meanwhile, I was standing with Sarah and Anna as a somewhat tired Lucas introduced the still somewhat angry Dodomeki standing next to him." This.... Is.... Selina Tsubaki.... My childhood friend..."" AND!?"

"!" Lucas stood up straight at Selina's question." And... Also... My Fiancée for an Arranged Marriage... Signed off on, by Our Parents... Without our opinions being taken for the matter."" Ah... That explains it." I mumbled as I finally made sense of this situation. The reason Lucas is reluctant is because of how free-spirited he is. The fact that the parents simply made the betrothal without consulting both of them has made him want to resist it. Well... Maybe I can help them out?" Ms. Selina...

If you don't mind me being very forward, could you tell me what your Job is?"" I'm a Spy, like Luca here, Marquess Drake."" I see... Then, would you like to work for me, like Lucas?" I could see a sparkle enter Selina's eyes and she seemed to realize what I was thinking." What!? Why would you-"" Lucas, you're currently my only Spy, I could always use more. Would you like to quit working for me if I were to hire Ms. Selina here?"" I..."

I could see all of the food that Lucas had eaten over the past year enter his mind." N... No, I wouldn't..." He answered with a sound of depression to his voice. It seems that Paradise has conquered Lucas's stomach. I looked back at Ms. Selina, and I could see that she was nearly salivating at the prospect of moving to Paradise where Lucas lived." Just to check, are you both okay with this?" I turned to Sarah and Anna to see what they thought, they simply nodded their heads to my words.

Along with that, I'm pretty sure that Anna's eye sparkled as well. If I didn't know any better, I'd say that she's quite in favor of bringing Ms. Selina because it would mean that she could tease her brother better... But maybe I'm just imagining things?"" In that case, Ms. Selina, would you like to work under me as a member of my Covert Operations Unit? Currently, only Lucas is a Member, but I'm sure it'll end up growing in time."" I'd be happy to!" Without missing a beat, Ms. Selina agreed quickly."

Okay, I'll write up a Contract so you can look over it, I'd imagine you'd need some time for mov-"" No need, Marquess Drake! I was actually going to offer my services to you later anyways!"" Oh, so we're of the same mind? Perfect. I'll make sure that you'll have the same Salary and Benefits as Lucas, will that work out?"" As long as we live in the same house."" I'm fine with doing that, however..." We all looked at Lucas and could tell that he was looking very uncomfortable about the idea."

Instead of that, there is an identical home right next to his that's vacant, could that work? For now?" Ms. Selina took a moment to think about the option I gave her, eventually she agreed to the compromise, Lucas breathed a sigh of relief and Ms. Selina began to think about a few things, the smile that she had on her face showed that there were some dark, murky emotions in them. It wasn't the type of thoughts that a man should be privy to if I were to guess.

I simply looked to My Wives to see how they were viewing all of this. Anna was fighting back laughter, and Sarah had begun to play with Liz's hair, trying to show her different hairstyles. It's almost like this doesn't involve them, but Ms. Selina will most likely end up being our Sister-In-Law. As for Lucas, even though his demeanor would suggest he was sad, I could see that Ms. Selina had begun to whisper things to him throughout the day and a smile began to form on his face that I hadn't seen from him before.

The conversations they were having certainly didn't look like the kind that people who didn't like each other would have. The general mood of the day continued to climb as we enjoyed a somewhat late lunch before we had to return to Paradise again. I made an appointment with Ms. Selina to pick her up in 3 days and with that, my return to paperwork hell began.