Chapter 375 - Exciting News

"Hey Ali, are you awake?" Ivan called out excitedly as he moved the screen door but stopped upon seeing Ryuu. "Ooops sorry gramps."

Ryuu sighed heavily. "Stop calling me grandpa. I feel like a cradle snatcher."

"You're a cradle snatcher," Alinea reminded him as she stuck her tongue out making Ryuu depressed.

She laughed. "I'm just kidding, my love. I'm the one who snatched you, remember? I even sent you my beloved chicken."

With her words, Ryuu let out another sigh obviously exasperated but let himself be consoled.  He would forgive her anything in any case, most especially when she smiled at him.

"Why are you so excited by the way?" Ryuu asked Ivan who stayed quiet as he got bullied by his wife.

As if remembering his purpose of coming, Ivan perked up. "Ah, Ritz and the others are back," he announced.

"My father and the others left?"Alinea asked with a frown.

There was no such thing in their itinerary for the day. Also, even if the others had other things they would do, she knew Alistair or Perun would just take a book and lie under a tree somewhere to pass time. He never meddled with humans as much as possible even when he lived as Alistair.  

"Yes. They had some… issues to settle earlier," Ryuu said and he told her about what happened in the Maki Household.

"What? Yuuka returned to her house? But why? It's dangerous!" Alinea looked and sounded so worried which was understandable.

Even if the people in the house didn't have shadow lurkers, just the harpy itself was bad news. Alinea couldn't even fight a harpy on her own – well at least before as she could do so easily now with her boosts. She needed her team to deal with one ordinary harpy, what more Ozomene.

"She received a call of help from her mother and thought the worst," Ivan explained and she sighed.

Well, if it was like that, then it was very much human to simply lose reason and do stupid things. Still…

"What happened after?" she asked. She didn't know why, but since learning that Yuuka was a nice lady, she felt an attachment to her.

"Well…"Ivan sat down on the tatami floor and reported what he knew – about the infection and then Daizo's sudden appearance.

"The harpy split into two?" Alinea was shocked.

"Why are you surprised? Fanya's power can do that. Since she is one with Ozomene, it is easy for her to let the harpy borrow it." Ivan was obviously not happy with it. "That crazy woman gets crazier by the day."

"You've seen Fanya?"Alinea asked Ivan.

"Not me. But when the spawn was not yet with you, it was Fanya who controlled it. She went to the palace to visit Ritz after you died to tell him you're still alive."

Eh?

"It was Fanya who told Alistair that I'm here?" Alinea couldn't believe it. Fanya was supposed to hate her and her mother to death.

"Yes. She used your face too," Ivan said and she shivered. "She was goading Ritz to strike her, but mocked him when he didn't."

Well, Alinea would die if the spawn died in someone else's hand. Only she could suppress that part of her. Perun did that the first time in the Celestial Plane and Alencica died. Of course, Alistair wouldn't kill the spawn no matter how agitated he was.

But Fanaya had mocked him using her face. Alinea was depressed learning about that. Her father must have been angered but couldn't do anything.

"Why did she bother letting my father know that I'm still alive then?" This one she couldn't understand.

"To hurt him," Ryuu answered simply.

"W-What do you mean?"

"Ritz was beyond grief when you died. He had begged the soulcallers to revive you but no one could. But Fanya appeared to tell him you are still alive but already with Kresnik." Ivan's voice trembled, his jade-green eyes hard as he recalled that time.

"But why would my father get hurt? Shouldn't he be fine when he learns I'm with my husband?"

"My love," Ryuu called her as he reached for her hand. "Think about it. This lifetime is the first time we've ever met again and we both continued to live."

Alinea's eyes widened. That was true. It was because they were not knowledgeable about the nature of the curse before that they kept making mistakes and she always ended up dead. When she and Kresnik crossed paths, instead of a lovely reunion, it would turn into the start of a countdown to her death.

"Just imagine how your father felt knowing that you are alive but didn't know where you were and was told you were with Kresnik." Ivan's voice became gentle as he studied her worried face.

She totally understood that he was indirectly telling her that Alistair was placed in a very desperate predicament. "The time here is also faster – around ten times faster than Ged. He must have been… anxious."

"He was… It's why he's very happy with Stribog for insisting to come here." Ivan chuckled.

"So, why were you excited again?" Ryuu asked and Ivan remembered his purpose for finding them.

"Ah yes! I was telling you they returned already, right?" Ivan reminded them.

"Well, Ozomene's no match with my uncle. What more my father? It would just take a flick of his hand." Alinea sounded proud when she said this.

Ryuu flicked her nose playfully. "Daddy's girl."

"But that's not the point. Everyone in the Maki household got infected with the shadow lurker," Ivan continued. "The others only had them at the initial stages but Yuuka's parents were already in the mid-stage. They must have more negative feelings or worries that fed the parasites so they ingrained deeper into their souls."

"Then it would need work even for my father to extract them without killing the hosts," Alinea commented. "What did they do? Maki Eito wants Yuuka to marry my brother, right? But I'm sure Aki won't agree even if you kill him. So how did they solve it?"

"I was waiting for you to ask that." Ivan grinned. "Actually it's not Aki Eito wants. He just wants the 'best' husband candidate for his daughter. Since they didn't think of anyone from Homura House, they settled on Aki."

Alinea flinched. It sounded harsh and they talked about her brother like a drop in quality but she couldn't deny the truth. At least, he was the best human – well, semi-human since he had Ritz blood – candidate.

"So?"

"So they found a better one – actually the best one to settle the obsession of the couple. Due to that, the parasites will be successfully extracted as early as a week." Ivan looked totally pleased as he finished reporting.

"Er…  it will be settled that fast?" If that's the case, the couple must have gotten a very nice offer that they felt so happy – overly happy that washed the negativity in their hearts making it easy to remove the shadow lurkers. "Did they get Shiro to do it?"

Instead of answering Ivan grinned like an idiot.

"Big brother, why do you look so creepy?" Ali asked, and Ryuu cleared his throat.

"My love," he called, and Alinea turned to him with a questioning gaze. "I think the candidate they were talking about is your father."

Alinea's mouth hung open. "Excuse me?"

Ivan laughed. "Ali, you have a new mama."