Mutagen

Of course, Mark would not let that happen.

While the girls were falling while holding each other\'s hands, they were gently caught by Mark.

"Papa!"

Miracle called out with a giggle as she embraced Mark. It was quite hard for her, though, since Mark was carrying the three of them. On the other hand, Abbygale was smiling, though she also looked bitter. Lastly, Iola, who seemed to be very nervous about the fall, was keeping quiet while looking at Mark.

By the looks of it, the idea of jumping off Chaflar\'s back came from Miracle, and Abbygale joined in. Iola, who was trying to stop them, got dragged in instead.

"Haah... Seriously. What will you three do if I wasn\'t able to catch you."

Mark tried to reprimand the three girls as he descended.

"Not happening. Papa will catch us for sure."

Abbygale replied with a calm and serious face. She really had a high trust towards her Papa. Hearing that, however, made Mark a bit itchy.

"Sorry, Papa. I wasn\'t able to stop them."

On the other hand, Iola, who was the most mature of the three, apologized. It was not really her fault, but it was still her responsibility as the oldest.

Mark gently put them down on the ground the moment he landed. By this time, almost everyone was already out of the vehicle. Well, who would not be? They had just seen an actual dragon from the legends. Furthermore, by what it looked like, it was not an enemy.

The most exited among them were Elise and Ernst. Elise, being a weird one herself, was fascinated with myths and the paranormal. On the other hand, Ernst was a biologist. Of course, he would be interested in an actual living dragon.

Still, who were the girls that Mark caught just now?

That was what filled the minds of others.

But then...

"Mama! I miss you!"

The youngest of the three left Mark and rushed towards Mei.

With a loving smile, Mei picked the little girl up.

"I miss you too."

Mei gave a kiss towards Miracle\'s cheek.

Now, it dawned upon the group who the girls were. And of course, they were shocked. Why?

"M-Miss Mei. How old are you?"

Felicia asked in a stutter. She was too surprised that she disregarded the unspoken rule of women towards questions about their age.

Mei did not mind, though, and replied.

"Eighteen?"

The reply was accompanied by a confused tilt of her head. She could not understand why Felicia would suddenly ask that.

That reply, however, made Felicia and the others even more confused. Their eyes then fell on Iola. With that, it was obvious what was going on in their mind.

"Seriously, clean your heads a bit," Mark said while carrying Abbygale in his arms. "These girls are our daughters. Not, biologically, though."

That was when they understood. Arnold could not help but scratch his head after thinking about a stupid thing. Everyone else was the same, except for Ernst and Elise that was focused on Chaflar that was now descending.

"So, you picked them up?" Felicia voiced out. "OW! Why?"

But she received a fist on her head. She looked back reproachfully at her brother, who hit her.

"Don\'t make it sound like Boss picked up some kittens from the street. It\'s rude to say that after seeing how the girls are attached to them."

Felicia turned away from Roan and looked at the girls. That look on their faces that seemed both happy and angry after reuniting with their adoptive parents.

It was the expression showing that they were happy that they finally reunited but also angry for their parents disappearing for too long. In fact, Felicia\'s parents also had those expressions after reuniting with her.

BAM!

A loud sound echoed as the dragon landed. It was not from its feet, though, but the car behind that was accidentally smashed by its tail.

And there, a beautiful woman wearing an Italian maid outfit jumped off the dragon\'s back.

"Master! Sorry! I wasn\'t able to stop the young misses."

The maid rushed towards Mark, bowing while apologizing about what just happened.

"Aephelia. It\'s nothing. You can\'t really stop them even if you want to."

Mark replied with a shrug.

Bathala might have recreated Aephelia\'s body, but it was very similar to the body she had before the destruction of Eriellis. Her physical strength was above human standard but comparing to Miracle that was not even human, to begin with, she would not be able to do anything.

At the side, Roan and the others were clamoring about another thing. Of course, it was because of the fact that the beautiful maid called Mark, "Master."

"Boss, are you perhaps some sort of royalty?"

Roan blurted out the question without thinking.

But then, Mark glanced at Roan with a subtle smile. There, he replied.

"Party, I think."

Mark was just some abnormal gloomy shut-in before. But now, those words were not a lie. He and Freed had fused already. Freed was actually a King, even if it was only forced by the circumstances.

Thus, his reply was not a lie at all.

With that last reply, Mark urged everyone to reenter the vehicle by he brought Mei and the three girls to join Aephelia on Chaflar\'s back. Everyone became a bit noisy after this, though.

It was good that Mark did not join the others inside the vehicle because they would definitely be bombarded with questions.

Furthermore, there was another restless woman right now. Feng Zhiruo could not calm herself after seeing Ignis. It seemed that she could tell that Ignis was a high-level sword with consciousness. Of course, a cultivator like her would be agitated. Furthermore, the main reason for this was the background of the sect that she came from. It was a sect that focused mainly on swordsmanship.

***

With Aephelia and the girls picking them up, the road ahead became way safer. Since Chaflar\'s flames were not made of magic, it was safer to use without causing some abnormal mutation among the infected, and clearing the infected along the way became a piece of cake.

Also because of Chaflar\'s large and strong body, clearing the blockades on the way was faster.

And thus, before the sun could set fully, Mark\'s group arrived at the Pagoda. Though right now, it looked more or less an outpost.

Chaflar landed in front of the Pagoda, followed by the vehicle driven by Roan.

When the mist that surrounded the Pagoda vanished, Odelina was there, leading the others to welcome their leader back.

Odelina stood in the center. Behind her were Spera, Nicole, Huey, Karlene, and Karla. Further behind the others were Huey, Alana, Halley, Jaeya, and the others. At the side, there was the group of Tikbalang that now served Mark. The dryad was also there.

When Mark jumped down from Chaflar\'s back with Mei and the three girls, Odelina spoke.

"Master, Mistress. Welcome back."

She then vowed, followed by the others. Although there were some faint giggling that could be heard in the background.

"We didn\'t go to some Demon King Palace, right?"

Roan muttered inside the vehicle after seeing such reception.

On the other hand, Mark was scratching his head.

"Odel, is it Mizuki and Halley?"

That was the first thing that came out of Mark\'s mouth.

Understanding the question, Odelina replied with an exasperated sigh.

"Karlene and Jaeya too."

Being named out, the four in question started to retreat silently.

"Mizuki, Halley, Karlene, Jaeya. Front. Everyone else, just go back to what you are doing. Odel, you stay too."

Mark said with a stern voice. Because of that, the four stopped hiding and came at the front with troubled faces. The others retreated back to their work, though some of them stayed behind like Huey, Joleen, Nicole, Rollan, Nikky, and Arvie. There was also Karla, Mara, Janette, and the Dryad. Spera, on the other hand, stayed behind Odelina like a follower maid.

Huey and Joleen were like Mark\'s direct subordinates.

The others were Mark\'s friends that were happy to see him back.

Karla was here to greet Mark and wait for Karlene.

Mara and Janette were here because, well... Janette.

Lastly, why was the Dryad even here?

"Seriously... What is everyone thinking."

Mark was exasperated.

"What? Isn\'t it good? It\'s like the return of the Demon Lord. Right?"

Alana replied.

"That\'s right.

Halley followed.

"Well, it looked fun, so everyone just agreed."

Karlene said while Jaeya nodded.

"Seriously. We just returned and what you want to give me is a bunch of head ache."

Mark rubbed his forehead with a bitter smile. It would be lying if he said that he did not feel happy about this, but it was more on the troublesome side.

At this time, the door of the vehicle slid open. Of course, Mark knew who came out without looking.

"Odel. I brought someone."

Odelina was quite unsure who Mark brought back. However, when she saw the person that came out of the vehicle, her eyes became wide. Before she could react, the person ran towards her with a happy embrace.

"AUNT!"

Hannah cried out with tears flowing on her face.

Then, there was silence. Everyone around decided to watch silently as Odelina snapped back to reality.

Odelina slowly pried off Hannah\'s face from her shoulder and took a serious look at the teen\'s face.

That face filled with tears that resembled her sister when she was younger, Odelina remembered the little girl she saw several years ago.

"Hannah? H-how..."

Odelina\'s voice was a bit unstable. Even her hands were shaking.

She then turned to Mark. She was unable to utter a straight question at Mark since she could decide where to start. Her expression, however, showed what she wanted to know.

"I\'ll tell the story later, alright?" Mark smiled and pointed his thumb at the vehicle behind them. "Also guide them inside. I can leave that to you, right?"

"Yes... Y-Yes!"

Odelina replied unstably. She started to try to calm Hannah and went towards the vehicle to introduce herself.

Mark and Mei watched Odelina and Hannah before looking at each other with a smile. The scene was satisfying to watch. It was the very first time they saw Odelina emotionally unstable, and it was a fresh scene to engrave in their memories.

"And now, what should I do with you four? What punishment do you want."

Mark said, returning his eyes towards the culprit of the embarrassing reception.

"Hey... Why are we going to get punished?"

Karlene asked childishly.

On the other hand, the other three kept quiet. Alana and Halley knew that Otakus would like that scene. But of course, it was not sure with Mark. In the first place, they only wanted to do it for laughs. Jaeya had that very same reason for joining in. Who would have thought that they would be caught immediately?

Mark glared at Karlene. He then shrugged. Why was the first thing he needed to do after reuniting with everyone was to punish these four mischievous ladies? Thus, Mark started to reprimand the four. In any case, it seemed that these four had been running amock while he was gone. It was because no one even sided with them to defend them.

To the side, even Huey and Joleen were nodding as Mark scolded them. Seriously, even Karla seemed to be blaming Karlene for many things.

"Well then. Here\'s your punishment." Mark smiled. "Dogeza."

"WHA!!!"

Alana and Halley cried out at the same time. Karlene and Jaeya, on the other hand, did not know what Mark meant.

"Well, there\'s no need to lower your heads. Just kneel down until I say so."

"N-now?"

Alana asked, afraid.

"When do you want to?"

Mark smiled with a dark aura. It was scary.

In that very place where Alana and Halley stood, they kneeled down. Afraid of Mark\'s current dark aura, Karlene and Jaeya copied the two.

Seeing them kneel down, Mark turned to Huey, Joleen, and Spera.

"I need a report of what happened while I\'m gone. And also why this place turned into something else than a temporary meeting place."

And there, Mark was welcomed back by the others as he listened to the reports he wanted to know. He was not too heartless to leave the four troublesome ladies kneeling for too long and made them stand after thirty minutes had passed. Still, they were unsteady with their numb legs after.

"Ow... My legs had never been this numb since before I met Big Bro..."

Jaeya complained. But the unnecessary remark made everyone look at her with pity.

-VOLUME 9 END-