Dimensional Descent

“Is everything alright?” Aina asked with a tinge of worry.

Leonel grinned. “It’s just fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Leonel couldn’t help but laugh. Aina wouldn’t usually be worried about such trivial things. It seemed that she was starting to see the world differently already.

“Okay, I promise to let you come with me from now on. So long as you stay a step behind, of course.”

Aina rolled her eyes. “What is this, the 1900s?”

“I seem to remember someone quite liked pretending it was the 1900s in bed.”

Aina looked aghast. “Not with the baby listening!”

Leonel was left speechless before he erupted into another fit of laughter. The baby didn’t even have ears yet, let alone comprehend language.

Given that Aina was taking the slow route with them, they would take even longer to develop. It probably wouldn’t be until two years later that there was an even visible baby bump on Aina.

But maybe this was the crucible all fathers must go through. It seemed that enjoying his wife would be a struggle from now on.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get the baby little ear muffs. The little guy won’t hear anything, I promise.”

Aina sputtered as though thinking of her wearing ear muffs on her belly all the time.

“Tsk, what do you take me for?” Leonel asked, practically reading her thoughts. “Only the best for my baby.”

He pointed a finger and then lightly touched Aina’s belly. At that moment, her entire uterus was surrounded by a soundproof barrier of Force Arts. In fact, he made three layers.

“See that? Daddy’s love life one, baby zero. I’m already upping the score.”

Aina was left speechless, but she had already run out of excuses and could only laugh as Leonel pounced on her.

…

It was probably a few hours before Leonel and Aina finally finished their several extra rounds.

It had been just a few hours for Aina, but for Leonel… it had been decades since the last time he touched his wife.

She was confused about the longing that she sensed in him, but as his wife, she accepted it with open arms.

Leonel had no intention of burdening her with such a thought. She didn’t need to know how much he suffered. She just needed to know that he would be strong enough to protect her and the baby in her belly.

Everyone else was also surprised by this as well, but not because of the same reasons, obviously. They were surprised that Leonel actually dared to step outside his courtyard.

Their souls couldn’t help but shudder as the couple stepped through the craters and the uncleaned blood and gore as though it was the very same paradise it had originally been.

They talked and laughed without a care in the world, and seeing the look in Aina’s eyes, most people couldn’t help but sigh.

Trying to take this woman away from Leonel… would that even be possible?

Aina’s feats on the battlefield had long since spread. There were very few of the Fawkes men that would even be comparable to her in talent, and yet there were too many that didn’t even understand their own limits and ended up jostling for position as though they truly had a chance.

What was even more amusing was that three such fools actually ended up dying and were publicly humiliated.

Although the sign said Nilrem had done it, and Nilrem also hadn’t appeared in public since then… who could possibly believe such a thing?

…

Leonel and Aina continued their stroll and their walk seemed aimless. It didn’t even particularly seem like they had a destination until they suddenly came to a stop.

“Hm… Let’s go in here for a second.”

On the way, Aina had been telling Leonel a lot about her army and the situation on the battlefield. Obviously, for Leonel, this was his next stop. But he still had to prepare some other things first.

First, he wasn’t yet happy with his current combat strength. He was only taking a small break because he had quite literally just tortured himself for almost a century.

If he wanted to complete it, he would need to first build a new Divine Armor, rebuild his Weapon-Metal Body, and likely form at least one Dharma.

He had already cleaned out the treasure stores of the Fawkes once already. As willful as he was, he knew that Gervaise wouldn’t allow him to do this continuously.

The reason he could play this political game with ease was because he knew how to take advantage of the rules, and he also knew when not to push his luck.

What had happened today and how things had ended were well within his expectations, but he could only ride on his olden days glory for so long before that rope ran out.

Leonel looked down at his wrist to find an impossibly small band of silver resting there. It was dormant and didn’t seem to have the capability to awaken.

He would do something first… and then he would clear out the treasure stores of the Fawkes for a second time.

That was true capitalism.

Leonel laughed to himself as Aina gave him a weird look. This husband of hers was about to cause some trouble again, wasn’t he?

The building they entered looked like an ancient academy. It felt like the cross between a castle and a prestigious college.

It was the Crafting Guild of the Fawkes, and there were already a large number of orders moving in and out as the Fawkes were no doubt rushing to embed themselves into the businesses of the God Realm.

Since the God Realm had expanded now to include even the Demi-God Realms, this was actually much easier than it sounded.

Leonel gained several frowns as he entered as it was clear and obvious that not everyone knew his face all that well, but those that tried to stop him were unceremoniously kicked away until he eventually made it to a basement pulsing with heat.

That was where Leonel’s nose wrinkled with disdain.