After watching the punitive squad leave, Alex wondered where to go. Going home wasn't an option yet, with angry Hestia and Hephaestus waiting for him there. Deciding it was best to head to the "Hostess of Fertility" and wait until things calmed down, Alex flew towards his favorite restaurant. He pondered what to do next and what awaited him in the future. Lost in thought, Alex didn't notice when he had already arrived at the bustling evening restaurant. He stopped and looked at the crowded hall, debating whether to go in, until he was distracted.
"What are you doing here, little one? Are you lost?" asked a sweet voice behind Alex. Hearing the voice, Alex turned around and met the eyes of a girl. The owner of the voice was Syr, whom Alex hadn't seen in a long time.
"Surprised to see such a beautiful big sister? Don't be shy, I'll help you," Syr said, looking at Alex, who had a question mark above his head.
"Come on, let's go inside. You must be hungry. Big sister will treat you to some food," Syr said, grabbing Alex's hand and leading him inside.
"This is not funny anymore," thought Alex as Syr held his hand and led him into the restaurant.
Approaching the bar, Syr sat Alex on one of the stools and spoke to Mia, who was wiping glasses and observing the strange situation.
"Mama Mia, I found this child at the entrance. Can we feed him? If needed, I'll pay for his meal," Syr said, addressing Mia, who started to smile at the duo in front of her.
"Are you sure you want to pay for this kid's food?" Mia asked, still smiling.
"Of course, I'm ready. He must be hungry," Syr said, trying to pat Alex on the head, but he dodged and avoided her hand.
"Naughty boy, looks like you'll be eating for free today," Mia said, placing a glass on the counter and continuing to smile.
"These are all the perks of being in a child's body," Alex replied, shrugging.
"How have you been lately, kid?" Mia asked, placing a drink in front of Alex.
"A little of this, a little of that. You know, the usual," Alex said, sipping from the glass. Hearing his words, Mia just laughed.
Syr, watching their interaction, didn't understand what was happening. How did Mama Mia know this child, and why did he act like he came here often? Alex and Mia noticed the question mark above Syr's head, laughed, and continued chatting. Syr grew more puzzled.
This continued until another waitress approached.
"Alex-nyah! Are you still little?" Anya said, approaching Alex and picking him up.
"Anya-nyah! How are you?" Alex asked, finding himself in the catgirl's embrace.
"Wait! Anya, you know this kid too?" Syr exclaimed, pointing at Alex who was in Anya's arms.
"Syr, you know him too. Doesn't this child remind you of anyone?" Mia asked, smiling and observing the situation.
"He looks like Alex and behaves the same way. So, he must be his son," Syr pondered, looking at Alex. Finally, she struck her palm with her fist, coming to a conclusion.
Hearing her words, everyone had question marks above their heads. No one understood how she came to that conclusion.
"Since you're Alex's son, you can call me mom, because sooner or later, your father and I will get married," Syr said, showing the face of a lovestruck maiden.
Alex, who had hoped that someone would recognize him, realized he was mistaken. Everyone who saw him thought he was their own son, and all the girls who saw him asked him to call them moms. Syr, smiling at Alex who was grimacing and trying to say something, was interrupted by another waitress.
"Did you come again, Alex? Do you have some free time today?" Ryuu asked, approaching at that moment.
"Ryuu, you know this kid too?" Syr asked, looking at the approaching Ryuu.
"I won't let you take my rightful place as the mother of this child," Syr continued, pointing at the girls and ready to charge into battle.
"Sigh Syr, this child is Alex, he just used an age-changing spell," Ryuu said, who had already taken Alex from Anya and was hugging him.
After her words, something short-circuited in Syr's head, and steam started coming out of her ears while her face turned red. Syr covered her face with her hands and squatted down so no one would see her at that moment.
"Do you still want me to call you mom?" Alex asked, looking at the embarrassed Syr sitting on the floor, covering her face. Hearing his words, Syr lifted her face, which now showed no embarrassment, only anger.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier that you are Alex?" Syr said, standing up and pointing at Alex, ready to unleash her righteous fury.
"You didn't give me a chance to say anything; you just grabbed my hand and led me inside," Alex said, spreading his hands.
"If you want me to forgive you, let me hug you," Syr said, extending her arms to take Alex.
"I would let you, but you see, the situation here is that Ryuu is protecting me while I'm in this form, so it's better to ask her for permission," Alex said, pointing at Ryuu who was holding him at that moment.
"Ryuu, let me hug Alex," Syr said, looking at Ryuu with a piercing gaze.
"No," Ryuu replied, not letting Syr take Alex.
"But why?" Syr asked with tears in her eyes.
"You are acting just like Chloe when she saw Alex. You just control yourself better, so I won't give you Alex," Ryuu replied, blocking all of Syr's attempts to hug Alex.
"I promise I won't do anything, cross my heart," Syr said, acting very pitiful at that moment.
"Alright, but if you try anything perverted, I'll hit you," Ryuu said, handing Alex over. Syr was already happy but tensed up a bit upon hearing her words and seeing Ryuu's look. Seeking help from others, Syr turned to Mia and saw that Mia was already holding a rolling pin, just in case Syr tried anything perverted. Syr realized that no one believed her words, and she could only prove her innocence through her actions.
Syr, holding Alex in her arms, hugged him tightly and tried not to do anything perverted so that Alex wouldn't be taken away from her. Alex, seeing how pleased Syr was to hug him, could only shake his head with a crooked smile. While Syr enjoyed hugging Alex, a group of adventurers entered the restaurant, discussing the attack on the Soma family house. Hearing their words, Alex could only smile and listen to what they were saying.
"Did you hear that the members of the Flying Spaghetti Monster cult attacked again today?" said the first one, taking a seat at a table.
"What did that madman and his helper do this time?" his friend asked, sitting across from him.
"He has new associates now, and they attacked the Soma family house, trashing it and beating up everyone who was home at the time," said the third member of the group.
"Weren't there three of them? Their leader, the wolf girl, and the red-haired girl with the hammer?" asked the second.
"No, there were two new participants in this incident today. There was a red-haired girl swinging a club like an ogre and another with purple hair who looked skittish," said the first.
"Wasn't the red-haired girl already a part of this group of lunatics?" asked the second.
"No, this time it seemed to be a different red-haired girl because, as described, her behavior was more like that of an ogre," said the third.
"And the other red-haired girl was more crazed than bloodthirsty," the first continued.
"Where did you get all this information?" asked the second.
"My friend is part of the punitive squad, and he was one of the people interrogating the victims, so I learned from him what happened," the first replied.
"Yeah, it all started with him attacking adventurers in the dungeon, then he began attacking adventurers in alleys, and now it's escalated to him attacking entire families," the third began recounting the whole situation.
"Do you think they'll be able to catch him? Or will he continue his madness?" asked the second, posing an important question.
"It's still unknown, as they always manage to escape by various unknown means," the third shook his head in response.
While the group of adventurers continued discussing the latest incident involving the members of the Flying Spaghetti Monster cult, Alex enjoyed Syr's embrace and listened to their conversation with a crooked smile. Chuckling to himself upon hearing their words about catching him, Alex could only shake his head and look at them with pity, knowing that in this world, no one could catch him, no matter how hard they tried.
Syr noticed Alex smiling and shaking his head and squealed, hugging him tighter, as Alex looked even cuter doing such movements. Ryuu, who was serving tables and listening to what the adventurers were saying, glanced suspiciously towards Alex. Alex looked at her and waved with a smile. Ryuu shook her head, dismissing these thoughts, thinking that it couldn't be Alex. If he wanted to do something like that, he wouldn't hide behind a mask. If Alex could hear her thoughts at that moment, he would only smile crookedly and say that it was all him and that he started it only to teach the adventurers a lesson, but then everything escalated, and he got caught up in it and couldn't stop anymore.
After chatting a bit more with Syr and Ryuu, Alex decided to head home and face the possibly angry Hestia.
Back to the time when Alex sent the group of girls home. After the girls fled following Alex, he immediately teleported them home. The girls looked around and noticed they were in Hephaestus's house. The group that stayed home hadn't dispersed yet and watched them with strange looks, as they had just left to take revenge and now were returning without Alex.
Loki, who was having a date with a bottle of rum, noticed the joyful faces of the girls who appeared and looked sadly at the bottle, realizing she missed something fun. All she could do was take out her frustration on the bottle, wishing to finish it so she wouldn't see anymore. Loki thought that next time she wouldn't fall for something similar and would definitely go on adventures with Alex, no matter the cost. When Loki was thinking about how to make Alex take her on adventures next time, her thoughts went in another direction, and when Loki realized what she was thinking about, she blushed. Touching her flushed face, Loki decided to blame it all on the alcohol, which made her think that way.
Everyone in the room watched the group of girls whispering with smiles on their faces, curious about what they were discussing. But what interested them the most was what happened at the Soma family house.
While the girls were discussing what they had done, Hestia woke up with a scream. She looked around and noticed the girls standing and discussing their matters. Hestia sighed in relief, thinking they hadn't gone to create problems. At the same time, Hephaestus came to her senses, stood up with a flushed face, and noticed Tsubaki's playful gaze. She blushed again and looked away, not wanting to meet Tsubaki's eyes. Hephaestus noticed that the girls hadn't gone anywhere and stayed in place, also sighing in relief, understanding that no one had gone anywhere. Loki, who continued to take out her sorrow on the bottle, noticed that these two had woken up and sighed in relief, decided to ruin their mood by saying that Alex's group had already created problems and just returned.
Hestia, hearing Loki's words, turned her head like a robot towards the girls and noticed their outfits, realizing that Alex and these girls had gone for revenge after all. Hestia, who was supposed to go through all the stages, decided to stop at anger, got up from the couch, and ran towards the group of girls.
"Why did you follow him?" Hestia yelled, running up to the group. "Cassandra, don't tell me you went too? Aren't you supposed to be the most sensible one in this situation?" Hestia asked, her pigtails starting to float.
Daphne, hearing Hestia's words, glanced at Cassandra and grimaced. Daphne clearly knew the true nature of this girl since Cassandra once dragged her to another town just to try her favorite dish. Cassandra only pretends to be a modest and shy girl. Once she gets used to a person, she starts behaving spoiled.
"And you, Lili, didn't you say you wouldn't go with Alex anymore when he wanted to cause chaos?" Hestia said, pointing a finger at Lili, who looked away in embarrassment.
"And where is Alex anyway? Why isn't he with you? And what exactly did you manage to do while I was unconscious?" Hestia asked, looking around and finally focusing on the girls.
Hearing Hestia's words, the group of bystanders perked up their ears, eager to hear what Alex and his group had done at the Soma family house. Lili and Cassandra avoided Hestia's gaze, unwilling to say anything. But Daphne, being straightforward, decided to tell everything in detail.
After hearing the whole story, Hestia fell to her knees and started crying, realizing that Alex had caused trouble again, and now the punitive squad was looking for them everywhere. The bystanders listened to this story with amusement, while Loki looked at it all with sadness, understanding the fun she had missed. Hephaestus, seeing the state of her friend, decided to comfort her.
While Hephaestus was consoling Hestia, some time passed, but Hestia wouldn't calm down. Hephaestus could only smile wryly and wait for Alex, hoping his return would soothe Hestia, though it might make her even angrier. At that moment, Alex returned, thinking everything had already settled down, and saw that the group of people hadn't dispersed. Some looked at him with pity, while Loki smiled in a way that didn't bode well. Alex was about to greet everyone when a black-haired missile flew into him and started shaking him like a tree that needed to shed its fruit.
Alex looked at the culprit, and it was Hestia. Trying to detach the goddess from himself, Alex exerted enough effort not to harm Hestia, who clung to him like an octopus to its prey. After a couple of minutes of persistent attempts, Alex managed to pull Hestia off and hold her at arm's length to prevent her from shaking him again. Hestia began to calm down a bit and looked at Alex with angry eyes.
"Don't you want to tell me anything?" Hestia asked, hanging from Alex's arms.
"We weren't recognized!" Alex said, setting Hestia down on the floor and giving her a thumbs-up.
Hestia, who had just started to calm down, flew into a rage again and tried to break free from Alex's grip to resume her attack.
"Hestia, calm down, why are you so angry? Didn't you ask for a lesson to be taught? And it was the most effective way to avoid suspicion on our family," Alex said, trying to soothe Hestia, whose eyes seemed to shoot fire.
"What do you mean 'avoid suspicion on our family'?" Hestia asked, pausing and not understanding what Alex meant.
"It's simple: everything I did in the past created a reputation for people who are members of the Cult of the Pasta Monster. That way, no one would think our family could be behind it," Alex explained his actions.
Hestia pondered for a moment and stared into Alex's eyes, trying to discern if he was lying or not.
"Alright, I'll believe you for now. What about what you mentioned earlier?" Hestia huffed and started speaking, but towards the end, her words became quieter, making it impossible to understand what she was saying.
"Are you talking about the date where it will just be you, me, and a candlelit dinner?" Alex whispered in Hestia's ear.
Hestia, upon hearing this, nodded with a red face and began to fidget with her hair in embarrassment. Seeing Hestia behave this way, Alex couldn't help but think how cute she looked at that moment.
"Of course, we'll go on a date if that's what you want. We're heading back home tomorrow, and after the move, we can go on a romantic date," Alex said with a gentle smile, looking at Hestia, who blushed even more from his words and gaze.
Everyone watched their interaction, eager to hear what they were talking about. Only Loki, lacking tact, decided to intervene and break their romantic atmosphere.
"What are you whispering about? You know, more than two people talking out loud," Loki said, already drunk. Alex just smiled and said nothing.
Alex noticed Hephaestus watching their interaction with jealous eyes and decided to approach her to ask what was wrong. Hephaestus, hearing his question, simply shook her head with a smile and said that everything was fine. Seeing that it was getting late, Alex offered to have Loki teleported home so that Finn wouldn't have to drag her drunken body all the way. Loki, hearing Alex's offer, was delighted as she wouldn't have to expend energy to get home. She wanted to thank Alex for his help and decided to reward him with a "goddess's kiss," as she called it. But Alex simply pushed her face away and said she should try that when her breath didn't smell of alcohol.
After pushing Loki away, Alex sent her home, reminding Finn not to stand too close to Loki at the moment as she might get motion sickness. Finn nodded gratefully before disappearing in a flash of light. Alex looked around the room and said it was time to get ready for bed since they were heading back to their renovated house in the morning. Hestia, who had been lost in her fantasies, immediately snapped out of it and was thrilled that they were returning home.
Alex noticed Hephaestus's face had become sad after his words. He decided it would be better to talk to her in the morning and try to convince her to move with them, as Alex had grown accustomed to having Hephaestus always around. Leaving that decision for the future, he went to sleep.
To be continued...