Chapter 298: Training With Papa
Elara took a deep breath as she drove toward Freya's middle school, or rather she was sitting in the back seat while a maid was driving her to the school.
The leather seats were soft and the air conditioning was perfect as well, the tinted windows were also blocking out the afternoon sun.
Everything about this life screamed luxury.
'I'm not sure I can get used to this…' Elara thought as she adjusted the collar of her shirt around her neck nervously. 'I don't know if I can get used to this at all.'
From Lucius's personal maid to his wife? It made her body jittery just thinking about it.
She could understand that Luna and the others became his wives since they were important people with their own accomplishments and strengths but as for her, she had just been Lucius's personal maid.
Sure she had a really powerful and volatile affinity but that was all there was toher.
'So how the hell did I become first wife…?' She thought, did she even deserve it…? She was happy to be his wife, ecstatic even, but what was her purpose in all of this? What did she bring to the table that the others didn't?
She had even skipped coming to GRIMMAW today to think about it seriously and so far Elara didn't have anything concrete.
The city passed by outside the window.
People walked on sidewalks and went about their normal lives, she'd been one of them once… after Lucius was disowned by the clan.
'But if Master wants me to be one… then I'll do it to the best of my abilities.' She finally decided, gripping her hands together in her lap.
Whatever he needed from her, she'd provide it. That was enough, wasn't it?
"My Lady, we've arrived." The maid said while the car pulled to a stop outside Starlight Middle school.
The building loomed ahead, three stories of brick and glass with kids streaming out the front entrance. "Shall I go fetch Little Freya or…"
"You don't need to call me my lady Misty." Elara said and came out of the car, her heels clicking against the pavement. "Let me go fetch her myself."
She wanted to see Freya directly and she wanted to be the one greeting her. It was a small thing, but it mattered a lot.
…
"Freya, your papa's so cool~"
"Do you think you could take us to your home to see the great Lucius?"
"Freya, can I come for a sleepover?"
Freya had just discovered why people on the internet hated having famous people as relatives, from the moment that she got to school today, people had been asking about her Papa nonstop.
Asking what kind of toothpaste he uses, asking what kind of brands he wore, asking if she could get them autographs, asking did she hear when he got busy with her other Mamas? Whatever that meant…
They crowded around her desk during breaks, followed her to outside the bathroom and even surrounded her in the hallways between classes.
It was suffocating.
They were also asking Shiori a whole lot of questions since they had come to school together and she couldn't help but find them to be annoying pests. Shiori looked ready to cry from all the attention.
'It's a shame I can't beat him up.' Freya thought while fantasizing about stepping on the head of the Runenforscher heir.
That bet he'd made yesterday was still hanging over her head. He hadn't come to school today for some reason… so he was probably still recovering from getting kicked twice. Freya's hand gripped around Shiori as the girl let out a small grunt from the pressure.
"Come on Shiori, make a break for it." Freya said while running forward and Shiori ran as well, they ran out the front door with the others chasing them like a mob and immediately she saw Elara standing there by the car looking elegant and composed so naturally Freya jumped into her arms and Elara caught her with one arm effortlessly making the other students stop as they saw the woman.
The students froze.
"Mama Elara, what are you doing here?" Freya asked as she looked at Elara and the woman sighed, adjusting Freya in her arms.
"I came to pick you up naturally, everyone else is a bit busy with work." Elara replied gently. "Papa will soon be home though from the dungeon raid, I hope you don't mind me picking you up instead of one of the other mamas."
"Not at all, Mama…" Freya then showed her three fingers proudly. "I have three homeworks so you'll have to teach them to me, please."
"Sure sure, is Shiori coming with us today?" Elara asked, looking at the trembling Shiori who stood a bit behind them and Freya nodded enthusiastically, making Elara stretch out her hand toward the shy girl.
"Alright, come on Shiori." Elara said as Shiori took her hand gently and they walked back to the car together. "Let's head back home, we'll get snacks on the way."
…
The drive back was quiet except for the girls whispering in the back seat about homework. Elara watched them through the rearview mirror with a soft smile on her face.
Freya was explaining something to Shiori, gesturing with her hands animatedly.
'This is what being first wife means…' Elara thought suddenly. 'Maybe it's taking care of the family and being there for the little things...'
Maybe she didn't need some grand purpose after all.
…
Back at the house, Elara set up the dining table for homework. She brought out juice boxes and cookies, spreading the girls' textbooks and notebooks across the polished wood surface.
"Alright, what's the first assignment?" Elara asked, settling into the chair between them.
"Math word problems." Freya said, pulling out her worksheet.
"I-I have the same one." Shiori added quietly.
Elara sat down between them, reading through the problems… They were about mana calculations and dungeon raid scenarios which was standard stuff for awakened society.
"Let's start with problem one." Elara said gently and began teaching them their homework however it hadn't even been ten minutes when someone suddenly appeared.
"You guys seem to be enjoying yourselves." Lucius appeared suddenly in the living room with Selene in his arms and Freya perked up immediately, dropping her pencil.
"Papa…" She said while running forward and hugging him at the thighs making Lucius laugh warmly. "Why do you smell stinky?"
"It's probably because we did some big raid in Rotenburg." Lucius said while dropping Selene on the large sofa gently with the Moon Goddess stretching out like a cat. "You should have heard about it on the news."
The TV remote floated into his hand using his spatial manipulation and he turned it on and there was a news reporter reviewing the place where the raid had taken place in Rotenburg City.
The screen showed destroyed roads, smoke rising, but the buildings around stood intact.
"As you can all see, with the help of the Great Lucius von Hohenberg, the Awakened that fought for Rotenberg city were able to isolate the monsters within this specific area and even after all of those fighting, it was only the road that was destroyed. The buildings remain proper without any hint of destruction as well." The reporter said with a smile on her face, gesturing to the scene behind her. "With the combined efforts of the Supreme Guild, Diamond Scorpion Guild and the GRIMMAW Guild… An A-rank dungeon break was completely nullified within 30 minutes which is a new record for collaborative raid response! All of this was possible because of the coordination led by Lucius von Hohenberg."
The reporter said and Lucius switched the channels just to be sure if the news was trending over multiple channels however it was different news on this one.
"Coming to you live from Aurelian News… We currently have the owner of the very esteemed Aurelian Royal Academy that has provided the country with over 1000+ Awakened that have proven themselves in the heat of the battle against monsters and will now be interviewing him about the upcoming entrance exams… Afternoon Proprietor, The Aurelian Royal Academy will be re-opening in two days for the Entrance exams, is that correct?" The woman asked while holding the microphone over to an old man who wore gold ornaments and had a long white beard that reached his chest.
"Yes Miss Shaula, this will be a very monumental Opening Ceremony as the Aurelian Academy has decided to take a new approach to it and introduce Streambots to the public." The old man said after clearing his throat. "The Aurelian Royal Academy has partnered with Luna Industries to bring this new drone technology to the exams…"
He tapped the watch he wore and a blue hologram of a bot with a singular red circle in the middle appeared, rotating in the air.
"Streambots? Could you tell us more about these fascinating devices?" The reporter asked, leaning in with interest.
"I'm glad you asked." The Proprietor of Aurelian Royal Academy said with enthusiasm. "They are new bots created by Luna Industries that aren't available to the public yet, they come with a personal set of glasses that can be used to check your Stream comments in real-time and everyone will have their own personal streams under the Academy network during the exams. The Stream bots come with 4k viewing quality so the viewers will be able to see what the students that they hype to win are doing in high quality without any lag. I am grateful that Luna Industries decided to partner with us for this historic event."
"That's amazing, I will certainly be buying a Streambot when they're available." The woman said with a smile nodding enthusiastically. "However there's a question I'm sure all the viewers will want to be asking about… Did Lucius von Hohenberg register for the entrance exams? And if so, will you be giving him some kind of special treatment or exceptions since he's managing the Supreme Guild who have broken back into Top 6 status just after what happened in Rotenburg City."
"Lucius von Hohenberg was the first person to register for the exams." The man said making Lucius almost spit out saliva right there in shock… Hadn't he been two days late or something?
That old man was lying through his teeth. "And yes, The Aurelian Royal Academy is prepared to make it easier for Lucius von Hohenberg to maintai–"
Lucius turned off the TV abruptly causing Elara and the girls in the room to look at him weirdly.
"I think that's enough for today…" Lucius said, he was pleasantly surprised that Luna had allied with the Academy to create a product for the Entrance exams.
She was really doing a lot of work behind the scenes. 'Maybe I should pay her a visit… I also haven't seen Villy today.'
She was probably helping out Luna with the production and logistics, Selene yawned on the couch.
"Anyway you were doing homework right?" Lucius asked and Freya nodded from her spot on the floor. "Oh hey Shiori."
"H-h-hey… Freya's Dad…" The girl blushed deeply. "My m-mom… mom is doing really fine though my Big Brother hasn't come back from the Dungeon Raid so he'll be late to pick me up."
"I see." Lucius said and then walked with Freya still attached to his leg like a koala. "You can stay till he comes to pick you up… Both of you should finish up your homework first, we'll get some training done as well after this."
"Training?" Both Shiori and Freya perked up, looking at each other with excitement.
"Of course… What happens if you girls need to urgently defend yourselves when I'm not around? Of course you'll need some training for that." Lucius said seriously.
"I understand Papa…" Freya said, she already had some semblance of Hand-to-hand combat from back when she was Subject 01 and copying the moves but she couldn't hope to rival him in actual skill.
She let go of his leg and he patted her head affectionately. "I'll try my best."
"Good girl…" Lucius said as she returned to where she was doing her homework with Shiori and he walked over to Elara who was watching them with soft eyes. "Vanessa said you didn't come to work today because you were sick, are you okay now?"
"M-me…" Elara blushed immediately. "Master, I'm fin–"
He placed his hand against her forehead gently.
"You're not particularly hot but you're really red right now… Are you sure it's not some kind of sickness? Or is it your affinity acting up?" Lucius asked with a concerned look on his face and her blush deepened as literal steam came out from her ears. "Now you're even hotter, are you sure you're okay?"
"Ma… Ma… Master… you're bullying me on purpose." Elara replied and Lucius smiled as he gave her a kiss on her hot forehead.
"Make sure to take care of yourself better, alright? Oh and did you warm up some water for me to bath? I stink really bad." Lucius said while walking to his room.
"Yes Master, even though you can automatically set it up… I made sure to put it in the exact temperature you like." Elara said while twirling her hair nervously. "I also prepared fresh towels and your robe."
"Ah thanks Elara, love you." He blew her a kiss before going upstairs, making the woman blush even deeper and Freya massage her forehead stressfully from her homework spot.
'Must Papa do all of this embarrassing stuff in front of me…?' She thought while trying to focus on her math homework while Shiori was giggling quietly beside her.
…
"Alright. We are all prepared." Lucius said as he wore some Martial art GI that was completely white while the two girls wore little white ones as well that fit them perfectly.
After discovering that he could change the space in the atmosphere or existing clothes to create new clothing, he had been abusing it pretty much for convenience… It also made him very interested in if he could use the space in the surrounding area to form stuff like a gun or weapon but that would be infinitely more complicated than making clothes.
He'd need to understand the internal mechanisms perfectly.
They were in the basement training room that had padded floors and mirrored walls and the space was large enough for sparring as well.
Freya bounced on her toes testing the gi while Shiori looked nervous.
"Papa, what do you want us to do?" Freya asked while holding her hand up eagerly.
"Right, Fr-Freya's dad… What do you want us to do?" Shiori asked as well, mimicking Freya's gesture but more hesitantly.
"Well I want you two to come at me…" Lucius said while stroking his non-existent beard thoughtfully. "Might as well see how fast you guys move and properly assess your current abilities."
"I see…" Freya said and then made a run for him at full speed, her small feet moving quickly across the padded floor.
She was as fast as ever for an eleven-year-old… though it took her a few seconds to reach him and throw a kick up at his face that he dodged easily by tilting his head, however Shiori stood in place nervously.
It was pretty confusing to the shy girl… How did Freya move that fast? It looked almost superhuman.
"Shiori, are you joining us?" Lucius asked gently and she nodded trying to run but she was far slower than Freya with her legs wobbly and uncertain.
When she tried to throw a kick forward copying Freya's movement, she slipped over awkwardly and Freya caught her instead, preventing her from hitting the ground.
"So… sorry." She looked apologetic however Lucius shook his head.
"Not at all, it's okay to make mistakes when you're learning… When I was your age, I wasn't physically strong enough as well." Lucius said, the original Lucius had been bullied by Valerian a lot until Elena stepped in… but it was really a lot of times since he was weak and couldn't defend himself properly. "The thing is it's better if you try your hardest to become stronger, you don't want to be weak forever right? Strength gives you choices while weakness takes them away."
"N-no…"
"Good, you can't have Freya protecting you all the time after all. What if she needs protecting?" Lucius asked and Shiori's eyes widened at the thought.
He was interested in making her want to be strong then testing out the Fluid on her to make her an awakened, since she was going to be best friends with Freya… they might as well be powerful together.
Plus, Shiori seemed like a good kid. Her family situation was rough with a sick mother and a brother risking his life in dungeons.
Becoming awakened could change everything for them… Better income, better opportunities, and a way out of poverty. He was a Villain, not a devil after all.
"Papa, I'll be the one doing the protection, thank you very much." Freya said firmly. "Now how do you plan to train us?"
A few minutes later, both girls were doing push-ups with both hands and legs pressing down to the ground before pulling themselves up with effort.
Shiori was trembling, barely able to do five in a row before her arms gave out and she collapsed while Freya was managing better but still struggling with sweat forming on her forehead.
"Papa! You aren't even doing anything." Freya pointed out while looking in the middle of her and Shiori breathing hard.
Lucius had one leg over the other watching a movie on his phone while lowering his back up and down using space manipulation effortlessly, not even breaking a sweat.
"Ah, these are the signature back push-ups that only I can do." Lucius said and put his free hand on her head. "For doubting me, do a 100 more push-ups."
"Freya groaned loudly but sighed after in acceptance.
"Yes Papa…"