"I was joking!" Hope imdiately defended herself after hearing the multiple voices of rejection.
Whether she was really joking or not, only she knew for sure...
"Why are you all so calm about my sudden and cool return? Why’s there no hug fest like last ti? Did you not miss ?" Muku changed the topic to avoid making things uncomfortable.
Though he really was curious as to why he wasn’t jumped like before. He felt like he had prepared for nothing before coming.
"Oh trust , we missed you more than you know. But we figured that since this ti you’re back for good and in the flesh. We’re going to take our ti to properly welco you back individually. That you can bank on..." Audrey replied calmly.
However, a red light which made Muku nervous flashed in her eyes when she said, "take our ti".
Then there was the suggestive smile she shared with the other girls. Of course, it was the usual suspects who had the smiles, not all of them.
Seeing those smiles made Muku feel a little scared. No matter how he looked at it, they didn’t look like they had good intentions...
Sothing quickly stuck out like a sore thumb to him as he looked at the girls...
"Where’s Jade?" He asked as a sinking feeling began building up in his gut.
"Don’t worry. She’s safe... Let’s go back to the mansion and spe... Oh, I guess I should say let’s go into the mansion" Audrey replied.
As she was telling the others to return to the mansion which was kept safe by Muku during the chaos, she noticed sothing behind Muku.
It was the mansion and it was floating towards them at a fast speed. This obviously prompted her to change what she wanted to say.
In a few seconds, the mansion had reached them. It didn’t have even a single scratch on it despite having its barrier destroyed and being in close proximity to the battle. Muku had done a great job in protecting it without being noticed.
"Ho sweet ho..." Muku spoke softly as he looked at the mansion he missed more than he thought he would.
It felt like he hadn’t seen it in forever...
"Must be great to be a rank five. You can casually move the thing we had to cart around..." Layla spoke from beside Audrey.
Despite her calm tone, age was very happy that Muku was back. Now she wouldn’t have to waste her mana on the cart.
"Well, what can I say, I’m blessed. It seems Freya has made a lot of progress. Despite looking the sa, this thing is a lot stronger. I almost didn’t recognise it" Muku replied as he looked at the mansion.
"It would look different too if you were here when I ranked up" Freya replied in her soft and gentle voice with confidence.
She could have actually used random material to upgrade it since many ores had appeared along with the apocalypse. However, after using Muku’s tal before, she began looking down on other materials and chose to wait for his return.
It was rare for her to be like that, but the others didn’t mind. They also preferred Muku’s tal...
"Oh? I guess I have sothing to look forward to after we’re done with the more agent matter. For now, let’s go inside and talk" Muku replied with keen interest then without warning, he grabbed everyone with his Telekinesis and flew them all inside.
The girls couldn’t help but smile gleefully as a wave of nostalgia hit them. It has been so long since they experienced his Telekinesis. And once more, it won’t just be a mory but reality.
They were so happy that even Layla and Elsa who rarely did it, smiled.
.....
A while later...
"Okay, here we are. We’ll do a proper welco later. First, tell about Jade. You said she’s fine but I can’t help but be worried..." Muku spoke after they took their seats in the lounge.
He couldn’t wait to learn about the girl’s fate. He wouldn’t feel completely happy to be back until she was in front of him along with the others.
"I can see that you’re impatient. So let summarise it for now and we can talk about it in detail later. Anyway, what happened is that after our last separation. It didn’t take too long before Jade began having serious problems with her Beast Aura. Or bloodline to be more precise. Whether it be during battle or at ho, she would randomly lose control and attack anything on sight. Which included us. Fortunately, she had warned us beforehand and is always in the front otherwise who knows what could have happened if she had sneak attacked soone..." Audrey paused for a mont to let Muku digest what she had said so far.
"Okay. So what happened after that?" Muku who still had Hope in his arms asked seriously.
The scene would have looked weird if everyone present hadn’t been used to Hope’s clinginess. Muku didn’t even register it for the ti being as he was focused on the jade matter.
"She herself decided for us to bind her most of the ti after things began getting too serious. We refused at first but had to agree in the end due to fear of her running off left alone. This continued until now. The episodes got so serious that keeping her in the mansion was no longer an option. And so, wherever we go, we bind her close by... And that’s the short version..." Audrey finished telling Muku the gist of what was up.
"Where is she right now?" Muku asked calmly. He wasn’t angry at them because it was obvious they did what they did. After all, they cared.
"We were actually heading to where she is. There’s usually soone with her. It was Chloe’s turn, and she had to co back and warn us about the weird rain since the lightning wasn’t natural and she could sense it... We couldn’t sense anything because of the barrier. Unfortunately, she was too late to reach us as the fishman reached us soon after she arrived. Anyway, Jade is less than a kilotre from here. Another reason she had to be kept away from the mansion was because she reacts strongly to it for so reason... You can go ahead, I know you can’t wait to see her. We’ll catch up..." Audrey explained why what was done was done even tho Muku didn’t ask.
She just didn’t want to leave any doubt in his mind...
"Thanks" Muku said one word then he and Hope disappeared in front of everyone.
Taking them all along wouldn’t have delayed him too much but he couldn’t wait to see the girl who had been suffering for close to a year...
And he didn’t disappear. He just moved so fast it looked like he did.
.....
Less than a kilotre away...
"Hhm?" Hope made a confused sound.
She literally just blinked and their location changed from mansion to forest.
She who was still clinging onto Muku was now looking at a huge tree which seed sowhat different from those around it.
"So this is where Jade is..." Muku spoke while looking at the tree... More precisely, he was looking into it with his mana sense. He could sense the sleeping Jade inside of it.
"Yeah. She’s currently under my poison’s effect. It’s just enough to make her sleep for a few hours. At first, we used my poison to subdue her. But if it wasn’t lethal to her, she would start adapting. If it were lethal, it would obviously harm her. So we resolved to only use the poison to make her sleep when she has an episode. She had one around five hours ago. She should be waking up in an hour or two if left undisturbed. After that, the sa dose would work for an hour less... Her body is really monstrous when it cos to adapting." Hope replied even though she knew it was a rhetorical question.
She took the chance to explain to Muku a few more things. She actually replied to a question Muku had. And that was "why hadn’t they used Hope’s poison to keep her in check?"
The reason made sense. Especially after he had those elental resistance trials. Those with stronger bodies generally tended to adapt to unfavourable conditions as long as they weren’t overwheld.
What Hope did was correct. She could have chosen to overwhelm the girl. But that would destroy her body. Which could be healed. But injuring and then healing a companion wasn’t sothing Hope was interested in... And there was a better option anyway.
"You did well. I’m proud of you" Muku spoke while patting Hope’s head.
"Hehe", Hope giggled while snuggling into Muku’s embrace and shalessly sniffing his body like a little pervert.
Muku ignored the crazy girl for the ti being and focused on Jade.
The others arrived behind him soon after.
Hope dispelled the poison in Jade’s body as the others arrived.
Jade’s eyes imdiately snapped open...
BOOOM!
The mont she opened her eyes, her Beast Aura exploded out of her body and destroyed the huge tree which camouflaged her presence.
The red-haired beauty who was in a berserk state was revealed to the world...
"Hello, Jade. It’s been a while..." Muku spoke while looking at the crazed girl.
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