Chapter 108 - Return To Aeturn

'There's no point in hiding it, I won't be surprised if she could read Lute's memories or something.'

Of course, she could not do that unless Lute willingly let her but Arthur doesn't know that.

"So you somehow found out the secret of the crystal realm and began searching for the planets with law Crystals."

"Yep."

"That's cool and all but what I don't understand is how you knew that the planets that experience the crystal rain frequently are the ones with the law crystal cores."

"Huh?"

Arthur let out a surprise voice at her words, it didn't take him long to arrive at a conclusion.

'Could it be that the royal family doesn't know the keys to finding the planets with law crystal cores?!

Tsk...A grave miscalculation. I shouldn't have assumed they knew.'

All these thoughts went through his mind in not more than a second.

Arthur just shrugged his shoulders and said while acting as if he hadn't realised that what he knew was information that even the royal family didn't have.

"Isn't it obvious? The planets with so much crystal rain would be suspicious right?"

Unfortunately, he was trying to fool his mother, someone whose thoughts and actions were over 90% similar to his. 

Simply put-

"There's no way you expect me to believe that right?"

-lying was futile.

Even so, Arthur had no intention of telling her about the memory gem or the spell he planned to cast.

'If she knew I was going to cast something that Lucifer created but never used, there's no way she'd agree.

After all, Lucifer couldn't use the spell because he created it when he was a deity, as such the probability of success is 50/50.'

"Well I know you're not gonna fall for that but I'm not telling, there are things that you won't tell even me after all, it's only natural I have the same."

Cattleya stared at Arthur silently for a few moments before sighing in exasperation. She then turned to Lewis and said.

"You're the one with the crystal right? Where did you put it away?"

"In an isolated space."

"Hmm...That's tricky. I'm not exactly the best at that kind of delicate spatial magic."

Cattleya had a hand on her chin as she spoke, after a few moments she hit her fist on her palm and said.

"I'd tell Creusery to come pick it up, space is more of his specialty."

"Why are you talking like it's a given for Lewis to give the crystal away?"

Arthur asked Cattleya who was speaking as if the law crystal being taken from Lewis, was set in stone.

"Oh...so he's the Lewis huh? Anyways, did you really think I'd leave evidence of the existence of law Crystals the size of planet cores with an outsider?"

"Not like hell's the only place that has them?"

"Other universes may have, but they also hide the exact sources, something we also do. 

Bottom line; he cant keep the crystal."

'Tsk... Her logic is so solid it's hard to refute.'

Arthur planned on keeping the crystal for a while but unfortunately, Cattleya had other ideas, ones he had no choice but to agree with.

◇　◇　◇

Since the reason for the spacecraft suddenly stopping was Cattleya, her going to talk to Arthur within one of the rooms of the craft also meant the journey could continue.

After a day's journey filled with a few light speed trips through some space gates, they eventually arrived at a distance that Cattleya's avatar could teleport Arthur directly to Aeturn from.

Arthur gave Lewis orders to continue the search for more crystals while the one with him was retrieved by Creusery in person.

'It seems the crystal realm's more important than I thought huh?'

That was obvious as Creusery himself came to collect the crystal that was harvested from the...Late Planet Girex.

Arthur was picked up by the real Cattleya herself, who had a brighter smile than any her avatar could ever make.

"We're going to have a long conversation about your actions Arthurius."

Of course, when Arthur heard those words, he felt chills down his spine and tried to escape.

Alas, it was a futile endeavour as Cattleya easily caught him and dragged him into the palace.

◇　◇　◇

Cattleya's 'anger', seemed to have died down, or so Arthur thought as she let go of him and even ordered the maids to prepare a meal for him.

'Does she perhaps intend to fatten me up for the slaughter?!'

Having those thoughts, Arthur attempted to secretly activate a teleportation Artifact he had on hand and run away but the glare that he felt the moment he touched the Artifact made him put it away.

Arriving at one of the rooms in Cattleya's tower, the one Hades usually stayed in when he came to visit, Arthur was met with a scene that would have made Layla have a mental breakdown if she saw it.

'Good thing she's not here.'

On the couch opposite one of the giant flatscreens that covered more than half the wall it was on, Hades and Conrad....were playing games.

"Damn, that dragon is a level 500, we gotta level up a bit before beating it don't you think?"

"Yeah, let's go kill the wyverns in the area first."

"Oh...Hades, you got any more magic potions, I'm out."

"Yeah, got a bunch of them from the last gacha, here Conrad."

"Gee...thanks."

"No problem, now let's end some wyverns."

'They're on a first name basis?!'

Grand Duke Conrad Eryrth who hardly let anyone call him by his first name besides his wife, Iberis, was letting Hades call him by name.

What was even more surprising was that the two were multi-playing with Cooperation that showed this was definitely not their first time playing games together.

Cattleya, who entered a few moments after Arthur, didn't look even the least bit surprised as she had most likely seen this scene countless times.

She just casually walked over to the couch that Hades was on and sat beside him while fiddling with her phone.

"Ah, yo Conrad, what was the move set for that combo again?"

"Which one?"

"Third one from the right on the combo list."

"Oh that, it's down, left, up, left, down, right, down, then hold your O for the finisher."

"Okay cool."

Their interactions once again shocked Arthur to the core.

'Why does he know what combo dad was talking about without even checking, just how many times has he played the game?!

He could understand Hades gaming, although Hades looked and acted like a dark and gloomy loner sometimes, he was actually quite the carefree person.

However, Conrad playing games? That was something he never thought he'd ever see in life. The man was so straight-laced that Arthur thought he would probably say something along the lines of games are a distraction to one's life.

"A lay up over there."

"Hit him with the special move there."

"It's his last stand now."

"If we block this we've cleared the game."

""And...""

""BOOM!""

"He's dead."

"Definitely dead."

The two men high fived themselves and laid back on the couch, dropping their controllers. Suddenly the dead video game boss twitched on the floor, causing Hades to pick up the controller and ask.

"Is he really dead?"

Conrad stared at Hades in surprise and replied.

"Didn't expect you of all people to say that revival spell."

**RING!

Conrad's phone began ringing, he looked at it and sighed.

"Gotta get back to work."

Standing up, his whole demeanour changed, he no longer looked or felt like the man who was playing video games less than 30 seconds ago.

'Now that's the Grand Duke I know.'

"Ah, my apologies for the late greetings, your highnesses, now if you'd excuse me."

He looked towards Arthur and Cattleya before bowing, teleporting away the moment after.

When he was gone, Arthur looked at the screen and the Couch before asking.

"What did I just witness?"

"Trust me Arthur, I was just as surprised as you were when I first found out, if not more."

Arthur sighed after hearing Cattleya's reply and looked at his dad who was still customising his newly acquired character.

'Haven't they finished the game? Or is there a sequel?'

He was about to ask about it when Cattleya finally spoke, the words she spoke however, scared Arthur shitless.

"Hady, what's Arthur's full middle name, I wanna seal his energy with his true name."

""You wanna do what now?!""

Hades who appeared to be engrossed in his game and Arthur who was about to join him, both retorted instantly.

Cattleya stared at the two with a look on her face as if she genuinely didn't understand the reason for their retort.

Hades sighed and dropped the game controller in his hands, turning his attention to Cattleya who had at a time he did not notice, started using his lap as a pillow.

"Okay, explain from the top. Because I honestly don't understand what could have possibly led you to that conclusion."

"No no no dad, this is the part where you reject her outright and not listen to her reasoning."