Gou awoke in his bedroom, staring at the ceiling as he always did when he awoke. It was a habit of his ever since childhood. He wouldn't move from his bed, or even try to get back to sleep. His elder twin brother, Yuu, would do the same.
Gou's vision was blurry, but soon adjusted to the light from the window on his left. He turned over to see his daughter, Eudora, laying next to him under the scarlet blanket, her dark curls resting on his left shoulder. She was asleep, just as peacefully as she did when she was a baby. Breathing softly, Gou didn't dare to disturb her, so he slowly and gently turned back over to his right.
For some odd reason, the One-Eyed Light King felt lighter. He was shirtless and in plain white shorts, but that wasn't it. Maybe he had lost weight, or maybe all of what he puked up before passing out made him feel that way, but he felt rejuvenated. He got up from his bed as quietly as he could. The cold wood on the floor connected with his feet, really waking him up. In the guest room, which was to become Tsuki's room. he could hear Altris and Adeline discussing something along the lines 'nails' and 'wood'. As uncertainty rushed into his mind, he decided that he wanted to check up on his wife and other child.
He crept to the door and slowly turned the knob, opening it. The slow creak made Gou feel uneasy, as he was trying his best not to wake up his daughter.
"Stupid door..." Gou mumbled to himself as he struggled to open the door without making a ruckus. He pulled at the door once again, causing it to creak once more. "Stupid door!" Gou hissed quietly as he let go of the knob in frustration. He let out a sigh and turned to look back at Eudora, feeling relived as he saw her still fast asleep. Gou turned back around and jump in fright, seeing Altris now standing in front of him. She wore her jirab and a black sundress which complimented her long, flowing, curly black hair and almond eyes. Her brown skin almost matched the floorboards and her plump lips instantly caught Gou's attention.
"Glad to see you're finally up, dear."
"Altris!" Gou yelped in a hushed tone while holding his hand to his heart. "You frightened me horribly."
"Why are you whispering?"
Gou pointed to their daughter who lay in a deep slumber on their bed. Altris put her hand to her chin as she came to a realization.
"So that's where she's been. Anyway, how are you feeling? I've already detoxified you, so you shouldn't have anymore poison within your body."
Poison? What are you talking about?
Gou though to himself after taking in Altris' statements. He raised a brow and scratched the back of his neck, showing confusion. Then, he thought to himself again for a moment.
If I was poisoned, then that would explain the blood in my vomit. No, would it? I'm not entirely sure, I've never seen someone get poisoned. I guess it depends on what kind of poison it was. Wait, when was I poisoned?
"What do you mean?"
"Luca bought you back here and told me that you were vomiting blood after you drank earlier this morning. I used Magic and found traces of poison within your body and then detoxified your body with Magic to expel the poison. Both Luca and Gwen came to the conclusion that you were poisoned by the bartender who served you, but when they went to find him behind the counter, he was gone."
Gou felt a shiver run up his spine as his palms began to sweat. He had no memory of tasting anything "off" in the liquor, and the bartender didn't give off any ill intent. Yet, poison was found in his body. There was no mistake. The last meal he ate was last night, something he had made himself after explaining the circumstances of Tsuki to Luca. There was only one real answer.
"I was...poisoned? What's going on now? Where are Luca and Gwendolyn?!"
"Relax, relax. They're searching for the culprit right now. A White-Rank swordsman and an Oraphim should not have a problem catching a mere human."
Mere human? Are you forgetting that your husband is also a "mere human?" Luca is more human than Ogre, too. You're seriously underestimating us.
Gou began to overthink. Yes, humans may be physically limited, but they do evolve quickly. Before the age of thirty, Gou was already White-Rank. Someone who was able to bypass the defenses of both Gou and Luca was obviously someone who could not be underestimated. Gou wanted to say this to Altris, but as he opened his mouth, Altris opened hers first.
"Oh, yeah! We've started building Tsuki's crib! Come look!" Altris grabbed Gou's hand and dragged him into the room next to their bedroom, the guest room. Or, what it would now be known as, Tsuki's room.
When Gou entered the room, he was met with the sight of seeing his eldest daughter holding his youngest son in her arms and a half built crib in the center of the spacious room. Adeline was holding Tsuki in her left arm while holding an instruction manual in her right hand with a screw in her mouth.
"Mama Al...I don't get it. Oh, hi, Papa!"
"Hey, Addy." Gou walked over to Adeline and crouched on his knees. "I see you and Tsuki are getting along well."
"No we're not! A while ago, he pooped right in front of me while laying on the bed in here! And while Mama Al was changing his diaper, he got really angry and threw a screw at my forehead! He's only calm right now because he's sleeping!"
"Oh, wow. Make sure to watch out for his strong handshake, he's really strong!"
"Yeah, Mama Al found out about that too. Tsuki snapped her finger real bad while she was changing him."
"Huh? What?"
Gou turned to look at Altris and saw her with a embarrassed expression on her face. Altris scratched the back of her neck while whistling, trying to change the mood of the room.
"Tsuki broke your finger?"
"Well...yeah. I healed myself, though."
"I see that, but how? He's barely a day old. How could a newborn do that?"
"I've been starting to suspect that the curse might've gave him enhanced strength as well. Fiends have it, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that a curse that will turn him into one would give him characteristics of one."
Gou stopped to think about that theory. Tsuki has a horn that is dormant within his skull, and most Fiends have horns. Super strength is also a characteristic of Fiends, so Tsuki having that as well isn't something that's hard to believe. Still, a newborn with the strength to break fingers made Gou feel uneasy.
What would Tsuki be capable of as an adult? No, what could he capable of by the time he's ten?
"I see. That's very plausible. How should we handle it?"
"For now? Let's just be more careful with him. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that we should protect our fingers from him when he has tantrums."
"Yeah...wow. That's pretty hard to comprehend. We've got ourselves a future lumberjack. Instead of an axe, he'll be using his hands." Gou joked as he caressed Tsuki's head. "Here, I'll take Tsuki and put him to bed with Eudora and come to help you guys build the crib."
"Okay, Papa!" Adeline said as she handed Tsuki over to Gou. He carefully grabbed his son and began walking towards the door. As he walked past Altris, she caught a glimpse of the sleeping baby and let out an "Awww!" before Gou and Tsuki left the room.
Gou looked at his son before laying him down next to his elder half-sister. He kissed the foreheads of both of his children before leaving out of his bedroom to help with the building of Tsuki's crib.
□ □ □
"Finally!" Altris yelled and fell onto her bottom out of exhaustion. The building of the crib was quite troublesome. At one point, Adeline, Altris, and Gou realized that they were building the crib with the wrong pieces. At another time, they learned that the crib was being built upside down. After about two hours, the crib was finally complete. Adeline was asleep on the floor, tuckered out. Gou sat near the bed in Tsuki's room that guests slept in previously.
He looked at the crib and smiled. It looked great. An all white crib with the flag of the Karanganian country on the front of it. An orange flag with a white cross and a blue sun overlapping with each other on the flag, the blue sun representing Gan Karah's blue sun in his shrine, and the white cross representing a legend of Gan Karah where he carried a white cross to the top of a sand dune and established the first city of Karangan. Gou always found the flag too patriotic in its own way, but he looked fairly nice on the crib.
He then looked out the window near the bed, and saw the sun starting to fall, slowly turning the sky orange. At the sight of it, his mind exploded with thoughts about Luca and Gwen. He thought they would have been home by now, but clearly, something else is going on.
"They're still not back."
"Hm? Oh, Luca and Gwen. I'm sure they're fine." Altris said, brushing it off.
"It's been hours, though. I'm worried."
"What? You're gonna go after them? Come on, relax for a bit. Spend time with us!"
Gou sat in the same spot, unmoving and thinking. He felt uneasy, but did want to spend time with his family and just relax for a moment with them.
I feel bad about this. On one hand, I trust Luca and Gwen to handle this criminal on their own. But on the other hand...I feel like something sinister is going on. When I think of the bartender, I can only see that kind face and hear his tiny voice. To think someone like that could almost kill me...
"Gou...you're seriously thinking about this right now?"
"Yeah, I am. I'm worried, sue me."
Should I go, or should I stay?
"Well, do what you want."
Gou paused. Was he overthinking it, or was he just being safe? Who knows, the bartender could be a Black-Rank magician. He look down at his hand, the same hand he wiped the blood from his nose off earlier in the day. After staring at his hand for about two minutes in silence, he got up from where he sat.
"I'll be back soon." Gou said as he conjured a blade of light within his left hand.