Elodiaren entered through the front door of the ChangHao firm. Countless eyes were suddenly onto him and he didn't even bother as he went to their underground kitchen. Since he had been there, he knew the way.
When he arrived at the doorway, he saw a child standing atop a wooden chair and was focused on mixing the grounded meat with additional ingredients on a medium-sized bowl. Meanwhile, Emersyn was making a dough for the dumpling wrapper. Elodiaren immediately stored his armor which he forgot to remove from his body when Emersyn gave him a stinging glare.
"Not just your armor. Wash up," she scolded.
"Yes, ma'am!" Elodiaren saluted then immediately went to the bathroom.
"Mama, is this good?" Yvri asked with his face a mess.
"Yes, it is. You have to wash up first before you put the meat in the wrapper. Mama also needs to wash up, so let's go."
"Yes!"
When they reached the restroom, Emersyn carried Yvri and settled the child on the sink. She washed her hands first then procured a clean handtowel and rubbed bath soap on it. She lathered, washed, then wrung it dry. Emersyn carefully removed Yvri's clothes and began wiping Yvri's small face and body. She checked to see if there were any mess left, and became satisfied when she didn't see any. Thankfully, there weren't any on the child's hair, or he might have to take a bath. Emersyn got children's clothes from her inventory and dressed Yvri casually.
"Okay, we're done," Emersyn smiled at Yvri who was begging to be carried. She cooed, "My little son."
After washing up, they went back to the kitchen and saw Elodiaren slowly stuffing the wrappers with meat. Since there were a lot of bowls for each version of dumplings, Elodiaren could finish one without a problem.
"Emersyn, Yvri. I took my time stuffing this up. I hope I didn't steal your jobs," he smiled handsomely, as if appealing his freshly bathed self.
Emersyn only stared at him squarely and nodded.
"That's it?!"
"What do you want more from me?"
"... nothing."
"I'm kidding. Great job, Aren. Thank you for washing up before helping."
"... that's not it either…."
"Okay, my son, do you know how to seal up these wrappers?"
"Yes, mama. I saw uncle do it!"
Emersyn smiled as she kissed Yvri's fluffy cheek and settled his feet on the wooden chair.
"Why did you make a lot again, Emersyn?" Elodiaren asked as he worked his hands, shrugging at the clear sign that he was ignored.
"Well, we would have short time to prepare when we enter the world in the Gate in Lasirion through my portal. Women there are deemed as highly inferior to men. I may have all the chance to be laid back to cook high-class ingredients, but seeing that I am handling high-quality items and ingredients, they wouldn't take it nicely. Though, I did consider camping out since we could beat anyone up in that matter; but… the only way we can know what high-quality meat we can get is to ask the locals there. So, we have to stay in different cities. For that, we have to mingle with men."
"I see your point…."
"Mama? Someone hates you?" Yvri asked with a strange mirth in his slitted pupils.
"Not only me, my son. All women."
"Can I kill them?"
"Why would you say that?"
"Because… mama is great. Why would they hate you?"
"I am not sure, but it must be something engraved in their bones from childhood. Besides, I don't need their approval at all, baby. They are insignificant beings to me, and I won't pay them any mind. The only thing that matters to me are my family and people. However, if they dared touch me, my family and my people, they are dead. As long as they don't do anything against us, I won't do anything against them."
Yvri paused for a moment as his gaze settled on Emersyn's unwavering eyes.
"Okay, mama," he nodded resolutely. "I will be strong like mama one day!"
Emersyn's expression softened and nuzzled Yvri's cheek. Then, they proceed to wrap more dumplings and putting indications on their wrappers before steaming it in Emersyn's closed space powered by dark energy with fire energy and water energy for the cooking. When it finished, there was a commotion outside. So, Emersyn had to store the dumplings in a warm spatial room and went out carrying Yvri and Elodiaren in tow.
"... those idiots!" Emersyn immediately exclaimed. She stepped on air and landed at the center of the commotion. Her fist bore down to the people that brought their motorbikes in front of the ChangHao firm.
"My Lord?!" Chu Yubin protested.
"Why did you use your motorbikes to go back?"
"Me-Melody said that it would be beneficial for you and Yvri to bond as a mother and son without us to facilitate."
Emersyn sighed.
"Go store the motorbikes now."
"Yes, my Lord!" They all exclaimed, then moved their motorbikes in their inventory.
That also illicit a wave of admiration from the people. It wasn't that rare if a person had the ability to use a spacial spell that can store items to your heart's desire. Ever since the rise of the amount of mana and qi in Strevalia, the practice also improved immensely; both martial arts and spells. Even the monsters that lived in Strevalia grew stronger. The same could be said to the regular people. They also noticed a great change in their physical bodies, so the percentage of them becoming adventurers and mercenary was high. New minerals were found and the abundance of mithril and orichalcum increased. It was truly a new age after the Gates appeared.
However, they saw something out of this world. Those mysterious… motorbikes..., as Emersyn called them, were revolutionary.
"Excuse me!" Someone called from the crowd.
Emersyn's companions all looked at the man wearing a rounded glasses. His mannerism was severe as he always fixed his glasses in every opportune moments.
"Yes?"
"My Lady, I presume, yes. I would like to see those motorbikes as you call them and examine it to its tiny details. Even for a small moment, please! I won't touch it, I promise!"
"... sure. Should we do it where there are no people?" Emersyn cautiously asked.
"What?! No! Stay!"
"We also would like to see!"
"Hey, boy, say that you want to examine it here."
"If you all would quiet down as I examine it, yes," the man with a rounded glasses said.
They all nodded and looked expectantly at Emersyn.
"Melody, can you show them your motorbike?"
"Yes, my Lord."
The instance Melody took out her motorbike, people crowded over the mysterious machine before them as the man called Harvey examined the mechanism of the said machine. He seemed to groan every now and then when he couldn't touch or even disassemble this motorbike, or he might incur the wrath of the owner and of Emersyn. After that, Harvey wanted Melody to drive it around, but he saw that they were already eating at the side with Emersyn serving them rice and their preferred food. However, the people around him didn't seem to notice them gone. Harvey was tempted to touch it. So tempted.
Harvey gulped.
"Uhm, excuse me," he slipped out and approached Melody.
Melody was beet red as she ate this red dumpling, but she never seemed to dislike it.
"Uhm… Melody?"
"Yesh?"
"Can you drive the motorbike around?"
Melody swallowed then asked, "After this?"
"... okay."
***
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! SLOW DO-ABUH!"
"Sorry, I was just so used to driving fast…," Melody reasoned as she slowed her speed down.
"Ow ow ow. It'sh still too fast?!"
"... we're just going through 20kph."
"20 what?!"
"Anyway, we really need to go now. Since we will be going through another world," Melody said as she stopped just right in front of ChangHao firm. There, they saw that Emersyn and her retinue were already waiting for them to alight from Melody's motorbike. They were… eating ice cream.
Melody was aghast as soon as she realized that they ate without her.
Meanwhile, Harvey was already alighted and heaving from the fright the speed gave him. He even bit his tongue in the process of screaming. Maybe… someday… he might get used to this once they bought from Emersyn's world or made prototypes themselves. His mind wandered to the joy of making one motorbike powered by their abundance of mana in Strevalia. When he came back to his senses, Emersyn and the rest of her group were now gone. He looked around and saw Alaric Heath, their hero in this world who still stood at the very top. He walked through the front door of ChangHao firm with haste.
What seemed to be the problem?