Chapter 134

Chapter 134: The Identity of the Beggars Who Visited the Outpost

Ria and I stepped out of the pool villa and took an evening stroll along the nighttime sea.

A nighttime beach walk, hand in hand with my beautiful wife.

Romantic and wonderful.

I gazed at Ria's profile and said.

"It feels like it has been ages since we had time like this."

"I know. After getting pregnant, giving birth, and then taking care of Yeona, we never got to have a date with just the two of us."

Ria had truly become a full-fledged mother.

"Is raising two kids hard?"

"Not hard at all. Our kids barely need any looking after, so there is nothing tiring about it. It is simply enjoyable."

"That is true. It feels like just yesterday Rin was no bigger than a fist, and now she is a dependable big sister. Yeona will grow up fast too."

"I know. Children grow so fast. I wish they would take their time."

We were on an outdoor date for the first time in ages, yet the conversation inevitably revolved around the kids.

Ria and I had become, beyond help, a mom and a dad.

Even though my heart still raced when I looked at Ria, just like a young man's.

After a brief walk, we returned to the pool villa.

'I cannot leave the kids alone for too long.'

I quietly cracked open the door to the kids' room and peeked in.

'Sleeping soundly.'

I closed the door again, and we changed into swimsuits and got into the pool.

We sipped wine and snacked on cheese and jamon in the water.

"This is nice."

"Yeah, it is."

I wrapped my arm around Ria's waist.

Ria leaned against my shoulder.

Something came to mind, and I asked Ria.

"Does your heart still race when we are this close?"

"You already know the answer, so asking is just mischievous. You can hear my heartbeat."

As Ria said, I was asking even though I knew.

As my senses had sharpened, my hearing had become keen as well.

So when we were close, I could even hear Ria's heartbeat.

Her heart was beating fast.

"Still, I want to confirm it."

"I feel the same. Does your heart still flutter the way it did when we were dating, Seon-u?"

"Of course. I still get butterflies when I look at you, Ria. You know that."

"I do. Hehe!"

"Let us never forget this feeling, for a very long time."

"Yes, let us. My heart will never change."

"Neither will mine."

They said that after the honeymoon phase, the excitement faded and you just became another family member.

That couples would say "We are family, we do not do that" and push each other away.

I sincerely hoped that would never happen to us.

Ria then said.

"I will take really good care of my skin and try to slow down aging as much as I can."

Ria would not need to do that. Her level of mana cultivation was so high that she would age much more slowly than an ordinary person.

"You do not need to. You will surely be beautiful even when you are much older, Ria. And I do not love you for your looks alone. I love you as a person, everything that you are. So it does not matter what you look like."

"......Hearing you say that, I cannot hold back anymore."

Ria pressed her lips to mine.

I pulled her close by the waist and kissed her back.

After the spark between us ignited.

"Shall we go to the bedroom......?"

"Let us......"

We headed to the room and had our own intimate time together.
***
The next day.

We had a simple breakfast and visited the beach again.

After that, we toured a large art museum beside the beach.

At lunchtime, we drove to a different beach and rode a jet boat.

I stayed on the shore holding Yeona while only Ria and Rin rode the jet boat.

'I am not really the type to enjoy thrills.'

That was also why I did not care much for amusement parks.

When Rin finished the jet boat ride, she came running toward me with a smile.

"Papa, the boat was sooooo fun!"

"Was it? Do you want to ride again?"

"Is that weally okay? I want to!"

"All right. Then go ride once more with Mommy."

But Ria shook her head.

"I will hold Yeona. You go ride with Rin."

"Hmm."

"Why? Are you scared?"

"No, I am Awakened. How could I be scared?"

"Hehe! That is right. Then go ahead."

"All right."

So I ended up riding the jet boat with Rin.

Children aged five and older but eight or younger were required to have a guardian seated beside them.

I fastened Rin's seatbelt tightly in the seat next to me.

Then I fastened my own.

The jet boat set off.

'It is slow.'

Honestly, if this had been before my Awakening, I would have felt the thrill.

But as a Third Awakening individual, I felt absolutely nothing.

I simply watched Rin having the time of her life and smiled warmly.

I captured Rin's excited moments on camera.

"Eeee! Papa, it is suuuuper fast!"

"Hold the safety bar tight, Rin."

"Okay! Hehe!"

She loved it even more when it made sharp turns and sudden stops.

'I should take her to an amusement park next time.'

After the jet boat ride was over.

Rin ran to Yeona, who was in Ria's arms.

"Yeona, when you get bigger, wet us come wide the jet boat together!"

"Heu."

Yeona babbled in reply.

Afterward, we toured the large art museum by the beach.

We also visited an arboretum in Gangneung.

After enjoying the two-night, three-day vacation, we returned home.

"Did you have fun, Rin?"

"Yesh! It was sooo much fun!"

"And our Yeona?"

"Dada!"

"You had fun too? Good."

And so Yeona's very first trip came to an end.
***
After the sweet vacation, I returned to running the Rift restaurant.

Today's menu was steamed Yeongdeok snow crab and crab innard fried rice.

'I bought a large batch at the Gangneung fish market during the trip.'

During the trip, I had purchased a large quantity of fresh snow crab that had been brought up from Yeongdeok to the Gangneung market.

Fresh snow crab caught right when the fishing ban had just been lifted.

The customers thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

"The meat is incredibly springy."

"Great yield."

"I never dreamed I would get to eat snow crab like this on the Fourth Floor of the Rift."

"The fried rice is delicious too."

The customers were eating with great satisfaction.

At the hall table, Ashley and Fenrir were also savoring the snow crab.

"I am getting more accustomed to seafood flavors. This is good."

"I used to wonder why anyone would eat fishy seafood, but this is springy and savory. It is delicious."

Even the two dedicated meat lovers enjoyed the snow crab.

After finishing her meal, Ashley studied me carefully and said.

"Seon-u, your complexion has improved since the trip."

"Does it look that way? Must be because I recharged."

"While you were off having fun, that female human had a rough time."

The "female human" she was referring to was Ji-young.

"Lady Ashley......!"

"What? Was I not supposed to say that?"

"It is not that, it is just embarrassing."

What had happened?

"Ji-young, what went wrong?"

"I do not really know either. I was so frantic that I just focused entirely on cooking. I had no mental bandwidth to look around or manage anything else. I was rushing so much that I could not control my strength and broke a few dishes. Three days just flew by in a blur."

"I see. That can happen."

I did not scold her.

Breaking dishes was something even a novice kitchen worker rarely did.

But in Ji-young's case, having acquired S-Rank-level stats, her lack of fine motor control was an understandable issue.

On top of that, the Rift restaurant had only two kitchen staff, and recently the lunch crowd alone was at least one hundred and fifty people.

Even a veteran head chef would struggle with those numbers.

"Other than that, you did not make any mistakes like undercooked food or serving poorly made dishes?"

"I was the youngest kitchen staff member under your command at Pungjeong, you know. There is no way I would do something like that."

When Ji-young was at Pungjeong, a new junior had briefly joined under her.

But that junior had been problematic.

'He kept trying to send out unfinished dishes, using busyness as an excuse.'

Despite being warned multiple times about behavior that was absolutely unacceptable in a kitchen, he never corrected it.

Eventually I could no longer keep him on, so I urged him to quit, and he did. As a result, Ji-young had to continue as the junior.

Ashley then said.

"On the other hand, the quality of the food was very high. She threw away any dish that did not meet the standard."

"Really? That is all that matters."

Ji-young exhaled with relief and said.

"I realized all over again how incredibly difficult it is to cook quickly at a high level of quality while reading the flow of the restaurant and directing everything, the way you do, Chef. I have so much respect for you!"

"Why the embarrassing compliments? You have improved so much since you first started. If you keep building experience, you will be as good as any accomplished chef."

"You think so? I will keep working hard!"

After encouraging Ji-young.

I went back to vigorously stir-frying crab meat fried rice.

After the busy lunch service ended.

I took a walk around the Outpost township.

'The ground is still bare dirt.'

Except for the central Bedrock Zone, everything was dirt.

The ground work was scheduled to begin after the Mage Tower construction was finished.

The plan was to lay paving blocks across the entire surface.

'For this project, we have been expanding the mineral dungeon that is rich in Pranium Stone, which is slightly less durable than Erdotte Stone.'

Since materials were self-sourced and the Eckard clan would process them into paving blocks directly, material costs would be nearly zero.

Once the paving blocks were laid, the landscape would transform from a rural village look to something more like a proper small town.
***
Yeona had entered the early stages of her sixth month.

Baby food had begun in earnest, and her first tooth was starting to show.

Also, Yeona had started crawling toward the end of her fifth month, and now in her sixth month, she was crawling with remarkable proficiency.

"Yeona, come to Daddy."

"Dada!"

Yeona came crawling rapidly across the living room.

Perhaps because she was a baby Awakened, her speed was impressively fast.

"Well done, my girl."

Then from the other side, Ria called for Yeona too.

"Yeona, come to Mommy too."

"Mama!"

Yeona crawled swiftly to Ria.

A smile bloomed across Ria's face.

Rin called Yeona as well.

"Yeona, come to your big sister too!"

"Nanna!"

The pronunciation of "big sister" was still beyond Yeona.

Even so, Rin was overjoyed and satisfied just to be called.

Rin hugged the baby who had crawled to her.

"Yeona, I wove you so much! I wove you!"

"Ye!"

She was now saying "yes" quite well too.

While we were enjoying this blissful time with our second daughter's antics.

Someone knocked on the front door.

That presence was Eriksson's.

I opened the front door and asked him.

"Eriksson, welcome. But are you not on duty today?"

"That is why I am here."

Eriksson's expression looked troubled.

"What? Is something going on at the Outpost again?"

"Yeah, there is."

"What happened?"

"Well......"

Eriksson glanced behind me at Ria, who had come up to the door.

Then he spoke.

"Someone from the Continent of Bellinta claiming to be the Crown Prince is at the Outpost with his entourage, staging a sit-in to be let in."

"What......?"

"What did you say?!"

I was surprised, but Ria was even more so.

Eriksson continued.

"I used the Gate portal at the guild headquarters to come tell you."

He had used the Gate portal I had installed at the guild branch for emergencies.

The Gate portal was connected to the Rift house, and only guild officers could use it.

"All right, we will go take a look. Which gate?"

"The east one."

"Got it."

Ria and I left the girls with Ruina and immediately opened a Gate portal to the east gate, traveling there.

Upon arrival, about twenty people in ragged, beggar-like appearance were outside the fortress wall beyond the moat, staging a sit-in and demanding the gate be opened.

'They look absolutely wretched.'

Their armor was torn and caked with dried, blackened blood.

Their faces were visibly haggard from exhaustion and hunger.

A guild member approached and reported the situation to me.

"Guild Master, people speaking an incomprehensible language, without Hunter IDs, are throwing a fit with body language demanding we open the gate and extend the bridge across the moat."

The guild members seemed flustered because they could not communicate.

I should probably supply Sigil of Wisdom bracelets for the Hunters manning the gates to wear on duty.

"Understood. Ria and I will speak with them."

The most presentable-looking man among them, with golden hair and arms folded, had been gazing up at the gate. Then he saw Ria's face atop the wall.

"......"

His jaw dropped in shock.

The fact that he recognized Ria suggested he was likely the Crown Prince.

Then my wife's full noble name left his lips.

"Aveline di Emeria......!"

Ria simply looked down at him with cold, emotionless eyes.