Chapter 4486: Somewhere to Belong (Part 2)

The small Divine Beasts flew as fast as Raldarak could, taking sharp turns around the trees and chasing any birds or small critters unlucky enough to catch their attention.

"He’s always so serious that I was starting to forget he’s actually a small child. You didn’t. You never stopped looking for a way to make him happy until you found it. I’m proud of you, Lith.

"It takes a lot of strength to break the cycle, and even more to be the parent you never had. I don’t mind spending half of our date in the woods if it means making our little boy happy."

"Thank you, Kami." Lith nodded.

The babies kept flying and chasing each other for a while, but they were still young and weak. Raldarak was the first to come down to his parents, huffing in exhaustion and sweating bullets as soon as he returned to his human form.

"Da." He said, plopping in Lith’s arms. "Da."

"Da?" Kamila echoed. "Why didn’t he call you Dya? It’s perfectly normal for him not to be able to say dada yet."

"Da means tired." Lith chuckled. "Ral is telling us he wants to rest."

"And why did he come to you?" Kamila couldn’t help but feel jealous.

"Because according to him, Mommy is a little slow on the uptake, whereas Daddy is quick to understand." He smirked.

"And I suppose you didn’t bother explaining to Ral that Mommy has no fault for not having Dragon Scales, did you?" She pouted.

"No. It didn’t seem necessary." Lith’s answer made Kamila snort, but she remained calm for the babies. "Come on, little fella, you need a bath."

A wave of Lith’s hand conjured the most pristine snow around them in a perfect floating sphere the size of a basin, which quickly melted into clear, steaming water. Raldarak struggled to keep his Voidwalker armor and avoid his bath.

Once Lith shoved him in the bubble, however, Raldarak giggled and happily splashed around. The water was warm, and the sticky, unpleasant feeling from the sweat was gone. Lith was washing Raldarak’s hair when he noticed Kamila staring at him with a fiery gaze.

"What? Are you still angry because of the Dragon Scales thing?" He asked.

"No, it’s just that you look very hot right now." She replied, biting her lower lip.

"Because I’m giving Ral a bath?" Lith furrowed his brow.

"Yes. You look like the kind of man I could give another child or ten." Kamila nodded, her voice sultry.

The couple hadn’t done more than hugs and soft kisses since the day Raldarak was born. Between Kamila’s magical practice and Lith’s Forgemastering experiments, they didn’t have much time together, and constantly changing Raldarak’s and Elyisa’s diapers at night killed their libido.

Right now, however, Lith could tell that his wife was about to reach the boiling point.

’I hate myself for this, but I can’t risk things going any further and the children remembering this in the future.’ Lith inwardly whined.

"And you look like the mother I’d want for my children." He said to ensure Kamila understood he wasn’t rejecting her. "About that, do you mind drying Ral off? I have to take care of another client."

Elysia had tried to keep up with Valeron, refusing to give up first, but the one-year and one-core-level difference was too much. She came down stumbling; her flight became more irregular as she got closer to Lith.

"Mama!" Raldarak happily said the moment Lith handed him to Kamila. "Mama! Mama!"

The disappointment she felt at the spoiled romantic mood popped like a balloon in front of her son’s happy smile as he begged her to hold him.

"My sweet baby!" She dabbed him with a warm cloth and peppered his head with kisses, returning his affection tenfold. "Come here. Mommy loves you so much!"

Raldarak giggled as Kamila cleaned his little feet and toes, falling asleep in her arms as soon as she put his enchanted clothes back on.

"Tade." Elysia said. "Bad."

"Of course, a hot bath incoming for the little lady here." Lith said, using three eyes on Elysia and the other four to keep watch on Valeron.

The baby boy returned as soon as Elysia was done bathing. Flying alone was nice, but flying with his siblings was much better. Valeron was tired of being alone.

"I’m sweaty." He tugged Lith’s arm. "Bath?"

Valeron didn’t know if he was too old to receive his siblings’ same treatment, so his little face lit up with joy when Lith said:

"You bet." And prepared another for Valeron while Kamila dried Elysia off.

"I’m hungry." Valeron didn’t splash, but he was no less happy than Raldarak, feeling like he finally belonged.

"Me doo!" Elysia raised her hand as if it was a quiz. "Hungy!"

"In a second." Lith finished washing and drying Valeron before taking the food out of his pocket dimension.

Raldarak woke up immediately and cried, demanding his share.

"Let’s feed the kids and then have our picnic." Kamila said with a radiant smile.

"What picnic?" Lith asked. "Don’t tell me you prepared food for today."

"No, but seeing how things are going, it seems the natural development of our date." She replied.

"In spring, maybe." Lith shrugged. "Not right now, though. The woods are too bare and silent."

"What about the kids?" She asked.

"We leave them to Mom until the afternoon." Lith pointed at the snoring group of babies. "I tired them out so that we have the rest of the morning for ourselves. They won’t even notice our absence for a few hours."

Kamila checked her clock and noticed that barely an hour and a half had passed since their arrival.

"Gods, you’re an evil genius. That’s why I married you." She chuckled.

A quick Warp brought them back to the local branch of the Association, and from there the Gate took the babies back to the Mansion.

"Have fun. I’ll contact you as soon as they wake up." Elina said with a smile while pushing the stroller with the babies away. "Dear, when are we going to have a date as well?"

"Soon. I swear!" Raaz gasped, knowing he was cornered.

"What about now?" Kamila asked.

"Your beloved museums await us." Lith sighed.

"What do you have against them?" She chuckled.

"They are boring, and you know it." Lith replied. "Yet we didn’t come here to argue. We came to Deshia to have fun, and now it’s your turn."

He brought Kamila to the biggest museum in the city and used the time they had left before lunch to visit all the sites of historical relevance with her. Thanks to Soluspedia, Lith could explain every piece of art like a skilled tourist guide.

He always added his personal spin here and there, even at the cost of stretching the truth, to avoid sounding like a textbook and making the experience more enjoyable.

"Thank you." Kamila said as they sat in the Dryad’s Garden restaurant after the tour. "I know you have no interest in art, but I had lots of fun with you today."

They had both changed into more formal and elegant day clothes, but nothing too flashy. They looked like any other noble couple that was staying at the hotel.